Drop to Zero
by jerichosbabe
Summary: Chris Jericho's about to spend one hellacious day with the one and only Stephanie McMahon.
1. 12:00 to 1:00AM

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the people mentioned in this story, I'm just "borrowing" them.  
  
A/N: This idea is totally mine, made up of almost nothing. However, the set-up on chapters is like the TV show, 24. Each chapter will represent one hour in one day.  
  
**  
  
12:00-1:00 AM  
  
**12:00** Chris Irvine sat on his couch and mindlessly flipped through the channels. There was never anything good on TV at this hour in the morning. He passed a James Bond movie and thought that it might be cool to be a secret agent, always having some sort of "assignment" to do. Never a dull moment.  
  
As that thought was completed, the phone began to ring. Chris was a little startled by the sudden ring of the phone, but recovered quickly, muted the TV and answered it.  
  
**12:04** "Hello?" he asked uncertainly. He heard rain in the background and heavy breathing. Chris looked out the window quickly to see that it was, indeed, raining outside. Finally, the voice said something.  
  
"Chris?"  
  
"Yeah. Stephanie, is that you?" he asked incredulously. She was crying.  
  
"Yes, it's me Chris. First off, I'm sorry about last night, it's just-" she started, but he cut her off.  
  
"Don't worry about it," he said, remembering the pain of that incident. He didn't want to think about it if he didn't have to. "What do you need?"  
  
"I shouldn't have bothered you, but I didn't know who else to call. It's so dark out here, just so dark, and I-I'm not sure where I am," she admitted to him. Chris sighed. Somehow he knew that this was going to be one hell of a long day.  
  
"Where are you?" he asked her. "Do you know the name of the street you're calling from?" The was a little noise on the other end of the phone as Stephanie poked her head out of the phone booth to see the name of the street sign next to her.  
  
"It looks like Sycamore Boulevard," she replied. Chris nodded his head and turned off the TV.  
  
"I'll be there in ten minutes," he said as he stood up.  
  
"OK, I'll be by the phone booth," she said. He pulled one shoe on and began to tie it.  
  
"Alright, I'll see you in a few," he said, then hung up. He put his other shoe on and tied it.  
  
**12:10** Chris walked into the kitchen and grabbed his keys off the counter, and his coat from a chair. The he walked out to the garage. As he was walking out the door, he couldn't help but wonder why Steph didn't call Hunter. After all Hunter was her husband. He also hated to admit anything like this to himself, but he was afraid that he was in love with Stephanie. Unfortunately, he always had been. He got in his car and drove off.  
  
**12:12** Stephanie stood by the phone booth from which she had called Chris. She didn't even consciously know why she had called him. She could've called her father, or Shane; he was close by. Instead, she had called Chris Irvine, the man whose on-screen persona hated hers and constantly threw harsh names at her.  
  
To Stephanie, he had just seemed like the right man for the jobs.  
  
She shivered and absently brought the shards of her coat closer around her to keep warm. It was unusually cold for a New York night in August. Stephanie rubbed at her eyes, where mascara had streaked minutes earlier. She walked out into the rain and sat on the curb and let the events of the night roll through her head again.  
  
She shivered again when she thought of what they had almost done to her. This whole ordeal was Hunter's fault. If he hadn't left her at that club, then she wouldn't have had to even deal with them.  
  
**12:17** Stephanie looked at her watch and grew more anxious than she already was. What was taking him so long? She bit her lip as she looked up and down the street to catch a glance of him. She hoped he wasn't mad at her for waking him up in the middle of the night. He didn't sound sleepy, though.  
  
She put her head in her hands. Nothing had been going right in her life for a long time. The downfall of the Alliance; Hunter's public break-up with her, which they later decided to drop and go on with their lives as a couple. Maybe Chris wasn't coming after all. It would only add to her list of bad luck she'd had in the past.  
  
She began to cry as a car pulled up in front of her. She didn't even notice it.  
  
**12:20** Chris got out of the car and walked around the front of it to see a broken-down and crying Stephanie McMahon. Chris rushed to her and hugged her. She was freezing cold and soaked to the bone. He lifted her chin and she looked at him.  
  
"Let's get you out of the rain," he said. She smirked at him and stood up. He got up and opened the door for her. She got in and he followed. He drove them back to his house.  
  
**12:25** One they were on the road, Chris and Steph started talking about how unusual it was to be so cold in August. Chris tried to steer away from anything that involved Hunter/Paul. The reason most people called him Hunter was because he wasn't any different than his character on the show, and it was more catchy. Stephanie knew that it was on his mind, what happened to her, because she had been told by a friend of theirs that he liked her. So, naturally, he would be concerned. Besides, he had a reason to know why he'd been called out to the middle of nowhere at 12 in the morning.  
  
"Chris, I know that you're wandering about what happened to me earlier tonight," she began.  
  
"I don't want to make you uncomfortable," he said, then glanced at her; she was staring at him. She placed a hand on his arm.  
  
"I want you to know, so I'm going to tell you," she said. Chris felt a jolt of electricity shoot through him when she touched his arm. He nodded to show that he had heard her. She went on.  
  
"Hunter and I decided to come to this club tonight and while we were there, I said something to him that really made him mad."  
  
"What did you say?" Chris asked.  
  
"That he never listened to me, and that he was stupid," she answered.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Anyways, I said that to him and he got angry and stormed off. I covered the bill and then went after him. I couldn't find him anywhere, plus I ended up wandering out a side door that was locked from the outside," she paused.  
  
"I think I can take a guess as to what happened to you after that," he said, gesturing to her clothes that were torn. She looked at them and kind of laughed.  
  
"They never got that far," she said proudly. Chris pulled into the driveway and then turned the car off. He put an arm around her for a second as he spoke.  
  
"I don't doubt that they didn't get far, because you are a strong woman, don't let anyone ever tell you different, you got me?" he said to her. She nodded and wiped the tears away that had suddenly formed in her eyes. They both got out of the car.  
  
**12:37** "This is your place?" she asked, impressed at how clean it was. Chris walked in behind her and tossed the keys on the counter.  
  
"Yeah, nothing big and fancy, but that's OK," he said as he shrugged his coat off and locked the garage door. She stood awkwardly in the kitchen as he hung up his coat.  
  
"You're going to want some other clothes than the ones you're wearing, I reckon, huh?" he said, showing by his intellect that he was from the Midwestern part of North America. She kind of smirked again.  
  
"I could use some," she admitted.  
  
"Follow me, then," he said as he led her around, and then walked up the stairs to his room. He walked over to the closet and pulled out a t-shirt, then walked over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of sweatpants with drawstrings.  
  
"Will this work?" he asked, holding them up.  
  
"We'll find out, won't we?" she said, taking the clothes and walking into the bathroom.  
  
**12:43** Chris shook his head; he never thought that he'd have Stephanie McMahon in his house. She was unbelievably nice when she wasn't in character. Truth be told, so was he. After a few minutes, she emerged from the bathroom, wearing the clothes he'd picked for her. She smiled.  
  
"Works in a pinch, I guess," she said before grabbing her wet clothes and walking over to Chris.  
  
"Do you have a bag I could put these in?" she asked.  
  
"Umm, yeah, I could bring one up for you, if you want to wash your face right now, or something like that," he said. She sat the clothes back in the bathroom.  
  
"That'd be great," she said, and he headed downstairs.  
  
"Hey, Chris?" He turned around.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Thank you." He smiled.  
  
**12:49** "No problem."  
  
  
  
He continued to walk downstairs, and he got her a brown paper bag from the cabinet. He walked back upstairs and sat the bag on the bed. Then he walked downstairs and again and flipped the TV back on. He plopped down on the couch and yawned.  
  
**12:53** Steph put her clothes in the bag that she saw lying on the bed, and then made her way downstairs. She saw Chris watching TV, and she decided to join him. She sat in the chair closest to the sofa.  
  
**12:55** "There's never anything good on," she warned as he flipped through the channels. He sighed.  
  
"Yeah, I know," he said, and then sat up a little bit. "What do you want to do?"  
  
**12:59** "I don't know, there's not much to do," she said. Then an idea came to her. "Wanna play truth or dare?" she asked suddenly. Chris had been staring at the TV, and if he had been looking at Steph, she would've seen the look on his face that said, 'someone please shoot me before I go insane.' Chris quickly erased that look and forced a smile.  
  
"Sure, Steph, I'll ask-" he started but was cut off by the phone ringing. He leaned over and picked it up.  
  
**1:00** "Hello?" 


	2. 1:00 to 2:00AM

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the people mentioned in this story, I'm just "borrowing" them.  
  
  
  
A/N: This idea is totally mine, made up of almost nothing. However, the set- up on chapters is like the TV show, 24. Each chapter will represent one hour in one day. BTW, as Jericho would say, "I'm soorry!!" for the lack of updates, hopefully more will be up sooner!  
  
  
  
**  
  
1:00-2:00 AM  
  
**1:00** "Hello?" Chris asked as he picked up the phone. Stephanie looked at him as he talked. She couldn't help but notice how good he looked with his hair down. Chris held up his index finger at her, to indicate he would be a minute or two. She nodded and began to look around the room.  
  
She got up and wandered around to look at the various pictures that he had hung up on the wall. Many contained him with his parents on various occasions. She was surprised at all of the pictures of other wrestlers he had on his wall as well.  
  
Many included him laughing with other superstars such as The Rock or Stone Cold Steve Austin, which on-camera were his worst enemies. She looked at the different belts that he had displayed on a bookshelf. He had only dedicated two shelves to the belts; the others were crammed full of books by Stephen King and other various authors.  
  
She peeked into his office, where he had every single wrestling figure ever released displayed on various shelves, right alongside every magazine cover he'd ever appeared on. There was a notebook and a pen on the desk, and Steph figured that he was writing his own novel. She heard him saying his goodbyes, so she walked into the living room again and sat down next to him.  
  
**1:17** "OK, mom, I will. Thanks for calling. Bye," he said, and hung up the phone.  
  
"What was your mom calling for?" she asked curiously.  
  
"She calls me every night, if I don't call her first," he said.  
  
"I wish my mom and I were more like that," she said. Chris just smiled. Then the phone rang again. Chris climbed over the couch to pick it up.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Where's Stephanie?" Hunter growled. Chris covered the mouthpiece of the phone with his hand.  
  
**1:20** "It's Hunter, do you want to talk to him?" Chris asked her. Steph looked surprised that he would ask her about something before acting on impulse.  
  
"I probably should." she said, hearing Hunter yelling on the other end.  
  
"I asked if you wanted to, not if you had to," Chris said. Steph looked at him again.  
  
"No, I don't want to talk to him," she said. Chris smiled.  
  
"OK," he said, then started to talk to Hunter again. "I'm sorry, ape-nose, but she is currently unavailable, please try back when you actually have a life," he finished, then hung up.  
  
**1:24** "I can't believe you just did that!!" she yelled while laughing uncontrollably. Chris just shrugged.  
  
"He was bothering you, so I just helped out; it's not that funny," he said, while trying to keep from laughing himself.  
  
"OK, so are you ready to play truth or dare?" Chris sighed.  
  
"I suppose so," he mumbled.  
  
"You ask first," she insisted.  
  
"OK, truth or dare?" Chris asked, mentally trying to believe that he WAS NOT playing truth or dare.  
  
"Dare," Stephanie said confidently. Chris scratched his chin thoughtfully.  
  
"Hmmmmm, I dare you to.....kiss me!!" he shouted. Steph looked somewhat surprised when she heard his dare, but tried to show no reaction.  
  
"OK," she started.  
  
"Hey, I wasn't finished!! You have to French kiss me." Steph rolled her eyes as Chris leaned back against the couch.  
  
"Whatever.." she mumbled as she pulled him in for a kiss. The kiss ended up being a long one, and it sent electricity shots down both their spines. The phone was ringing again, but neither heard it.  
  
Finally, the kiss was broken and they returned to their spots in the chair and couch.  
  
"Truth or dare?" she asked him.  
  
"Truth," he answered, remembering the last time that he had inadvertly walked in on a game of truth or dare, and answered 'dare'.  
  
"OK....Are you really in love with me?" she asked. Chris closed his eyes. This situation was worse than the last one.  
  
"...I like you, yeah, but"  
  
"No, I asked if you loved me," she said. Chris glared at her.  
  
"...Yes, alright. YES!!! I'll admit it, I'm in love with you!!" he shouted. Steph started to giggle. "NOW what?!?!" he asked. He had just told the woman he loved that he loved her and she was laughing at him?  
  
**1:40** "It's not you!! I just didn't believe that it was true!! I'm flattered, Chris really," Steph said, trying to cheer him up, while also trying to restrain her laughter.  
  
A few minutes later, they both decided to quit Truth or Dare, and just sit for a while.  
  
"I suppose 'ole ape-nose finally gave it a rest eh?" Chris said as the silence began.  
  
"He's never going to give up getting me back. He's probably making his way over here right now, as we speak," Steph said sadly.  
  
"Why do you stay with him Steph?" she sighed.  
  
"Because if I'd leave him, I'd get hurt," she said.  
  
"Is he holding you against your will?" "Somewhat," she admitted. Silence endured again.  
  
**1:45** "You're not going back to him," Chris said, suddenly.  
  
"What? Chris, I have-"  
  
"You don't have to do anything that you don't want to do. It's a little thing called 'freedom'," Chris said.  
  
"So what am I supposed to do? Stay here with you?"  
  
"Not necessarily, just get away from him," Chris finished and then stared at her to see what her decision would be.  
  
She looked at his face to see that he was dead serious about her leaving Hunter.  
  
**1:47** "What about our jobs?" she asked him.  
  
"I'll be your bodyguard," he said resolutely.  
  
"Really? Against Hunter? Sorry Chris, but I don't think you could handle him."  
  
"Oh really? Well let's find out, shall we?"  
  
"How?" Steph asked, getting agitated. Both their tempers were flaring at the other for even arguing about this.  
  
"You said that he's probably on his way over, right?"  
  
"Yeah, so what?"  
  
"Well, we unlock the door and leave it open just a crack, and then we'll be in the kitchen kissing, making it look like-"  
  
"Like we were having an affair so he gets angry at you, and I get off the hook of the marriage," Steph finished for him.  
  
"Exactly. So, are you game?" Chris asked, secretly hoping that his plan would work.  
  
"Sure, what do I have to do?"  
  
"Well...."  
  
**1:53** Hunter pulled into the driveway of the not-so-great suburban home. He shifted the car into park and got out of the car. He slowly walked towards the front door, making his footsteps very quiet, so as to sneak up on them. He quickly felt the knife in his front pocket and patted it, to make sure that it was still there.  
  
He looked at the front door to see that it was open just a hair. Hunter smiled. Things were going his way after all. He crept inside ever so quietly and made his way inside the house. He heard some talking in the direction of the living room, so he headed that way.  
  
"So where is he?"  
  
"I dunno, but I doubt if he's looking for me." Steph walked towards Chris. They both smiled. So far, it was going great. If they could just keep up the act until Hunter came in the room.....  
  
Hunter couldn't believe what he was hearing. His wife and Chris Irvine actually talked? Especially after what she'd done to him last night.. "All the more reason to finish this job," he thought. Hunter walked to the doorway of the kitchen to see Stephanie walking towards Chris, who was just wearing some jeans. His blood boiled when he thought of what they had been doing behind his back.  
  
It was time to finish them off.  
  
**1:57** "YOU!!!" Hunter screamed. Chris whirled around and looked surprised. Steph ran into the other room. He'd get her later.  
  
Hunter lunged at Chris, who quickly ducked and began to punch him. Chris had gotten the upper hand quickly in the fight, which surprised Hunter and took him off guard.  
  
Steph soon returned to the kitchen with what she had left with.  
  
A skillet.  
  
She saw the two men and tried to aim for Hunter. She ran at him with the pan, but he ducked, and she knocked Chris out cold with it.  
  
**1:59** "No!!!" she screamed, as she dropped the skillet to the floor.  
  
"Thanks, baby," Hunter said, as he pulled the knife from his pocket, and began to walk towards her with it. Steph picked up the skillet and ran into the living room with it, Hunter was hot on her heels.  
  
**2:00** A scream sounded as the clock struck two. 


	3. 2:00 to 3:00AM

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the people mentioned in this story, I'm just "borrowing" them.  
A/N: This idea is totally mine, made up of almost nothing. However, the set- up on chapters is like the TV show, 24. Each chapter will represent one hour in one day. Thanks for being patient with me about my break I had to take. I really appreciate it.  
  
**  
  
2:00-3:00AM  
  
**2:00** The scream that sounded through the house was one from....Hunter. Steph had managed to hit him in the crotch with the skillet, temporarily distracting him. She took off for the kitchen again to check on Chris.  
  
"Chris wake up!!" she yelled at him, and started to pat his face with her hand. She ran some water from the faucet in the sink and took the spray attachment to spray him in the face with. She never made it to Chris.  
  
**2:03** Hunter stormed in and grabbed her before she could do anything else to try and revive Chris.  
  
"Chris!!" She screamed before Hunter slapped his hand over her mouth, and carried her outside. Chris remained motionless on the floor.  
  
Hunter carried her through the house as she squirmed to get away from him. When he got to the front door, he threw her down on the pavement and slammed the door. Steph tried to stumble to her feet, but Hunter grabbed her again and carried her to his car. His car, which was a 1978 Chevy Camero, looked like a piece of crap, and wasn't very reliable as far as starting it went.  
  
**2:06** Hunter opened the passenger door to the car and threw Steph in. He slammed the door and walked around to the other side. He got in and grabbed the rope he had in the backseat. Steph was just sitting still now, because she knew it was useless to fight and if she fought anymore, she would get hurt bad, or killed. Most likely she would receive the latter.  
  
She sat still while he stuck the key in the ignition and tried to start the car. As luck would have it, that car began to start up, but the sputtered and died. Hunter tried it again, and there was nothing; his car was dead.  
Hunter sighed outwardly. He was having a hell of a time trying to carry out this plan. He wondered why that person wanted Chris and Steph dead anyways. He wasn't going to argue with them, though.  
  
Hunter knew just how to pass the time until Chris came looking anyways. He glanced at Stephanie and smiled.  
  
**2:18** Chris blinked his eyes open slowly. He had the biggest headache on the face of the planet. He stared at the ceiling and tried to figure out what happened. He and Steph had been trying to-  
  
Stephanie.  
  
His mind screamed at him that he needed to find her. Chris tried to sit up, and found that headache was also armed with a horrible case of dizziness. He sat up for a little bit and then made it to his feet. He saw the spray hose from the sink was hanging in front of the cabinet.  
  
"I would've never thought of that," He mumbled to himself. He figured that Stephanie had tried to revive him, but never got that far. Chris stumbled into the living room, and saw that there was a car in the driveway. It sure as hell wasn't his car.  
  
"Hunter." He said, to himself. He peered through the window to look at the car and it looked like there was only one person in the car.  
  
**2:23** "Yes, Chris, what do you wish?" Hunter asked from behind him. Chris heard the gun click as the safety was taken off. He blinked slowly, inwardly cursing himself for being so foolish.  
  
"You see Chris, it's not just Steph that I'm after. You're on the list, too. I've got no idea what you did to this person, but they want you dead, and I'm going to help them out." Hunter said. "Now, get on your knees, and put your hands in the air."  
  
Chris bit his tongue to keep from saying something smart back to Hunter, and slowly fell to his knees. He felt the gun barrel being pressed against the back of his head. He squeezed his eyes shut, desperately trying to think of something he could do to get Hunter away from him and buy some time.  
  
"I shall truly enjoy killing you, Chris." Hunter sneered.  
  
"Well, I'm glad I could make you so happy, Hunter. Hope you have a lot of fun." Chris said. He was praying to God that anything, a phone call, a knock on the door, a lightening bolt, anything that would give him time to get away from Hunter. It wasn't working real well right now.  
  
"I'll tell Stephanie you said goodbye, before I kill her. Don't worry Chris, you'll both be together very, very soon."  
  
"Sure I will, Hunter." Chris said.  
  
"Are you calling me a liar?"  
  
"Hmm, it would sound that way, wouldn't it?" Chris retorted.  
  
"That's it, Chris. You just earned yourself a more painful death." Hunter said. Chris rolled his eyes.  
  
**2:32** "Oh, geez, are you going to rip out my toenails? Oh, I know!! You're going to rip my hair out, strand by strand until I talk, right? Or, better yet, you're going to rig up a laser beam that will slice me in half like James Bond? Please indulge me on you 'horrible' death Hunter, I really do need a laugh today." Chris laughed back to him. Hunter hit him in the back of the head with the butt of the gun.  
  
"I'm going to make you scream for mercy, Chris. When you wish you were dead, I'm going to beat you some more. You'll be begging me to kill you by the time I'm done." Hunter growled to him. He then kicked Chris in the stomach.  
  
"Sounds like a typical response from you Triple-Nose." Chris said, barely managing to spit the words out. Hunter continually kicked him in the stomach, until Chris was spitting blood with his remarks.  
  
"You're making it harder on yourself, Chris. Just shut up and take it. You're life will be much easier if you do. Well, what's left of your life." Chris coughed and glared at Hunter. No way was he going to go down quietly.  
  
"Don't'cha know you'll never learn nothing if you don't learn it the hard way?" Chris spat at him. Hunter responded by kicking him in the shoulder.  
  
"Are you this person's little toy, Hunter?" he asked. Hunter kicked him in the shoulder again. He was wearing steel-toe boots, so the pain was about twice as bad as it normally would've been.  
  
"I think that this person is just playing with your mind, Hunter." He said again, trying to play some mind games with him. It wasn't working out too well. After all, Hunter has no mind.  
  
Hunter kicked him hard in the chest. Chris' face etched total pain. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and started to curl into a half- fetal position.  
  
**2:40** Hunter moved Chris back onto his back with his boot and Then stomped on his chest some more.  
  
Chris no longer felt the pain of his headache. His chest was taking a lot of damage and his stomach already hurt. He was coughing blood like it was spit, and he was having trouble getting enough air. Hunter continued to kick Chris in the stomach and chest areas.  
  
Chris felt a drop of water trail down his face. He couldn't remember if it was sweat or a tear from squinting his eyes so much. He was about to lose consciousness and he was struggling to not cry out. He briefly felt some cold air around him.  
  
All of sudden, Hunter's foot was no longer at his chest. The new pain wasn't there. Chris winced and opened his eyes to see Stephanie looking at him.  
  
"Wh-what...are...how?" Chris breathed. Steph smiled a little and pushed a stray strand of hair out of his face. Her hand was cool against the bruises that were going to form.  
  
"It'll be all right, Chris." She reassured him. He saw the figure of Hunter begin to get up. Chris slowly stumbled to his feet, pushed Steph out of the way, and tackled Hunter to the ground. He had no strength to do anything else.  
  
**2:50** Steph grabbed the skillet once again and pummeled Hunter in the head with it. It knocked him out cold. Chris and Steph managed to drag him outside the door and tie him up. They left him outside because, well, Chris lived in one of the rural parts of New York. Not New York City, just the plain old state of New York. Nobody would see him, anyways. They slammed the door and bolted it shut.  
  
"Let me get you an ice pack," Steph said before walking into the kitchen. Chris leaned up against the door. He still felt as if he was going to pass out, but now his headache was back, and it was making him seriously distort shapes.  
  
He blinked his eyes repeatedly, and tried to clear his vision, but it just wouldn't clear. He saw Steph come out of the kitchen with the ice pack, and a second later he felt the ice on his head. He never thought that he'd be so happy to feel the unwelcoming cold of an ice cube on his head.  
  
"How did you get out?" he asked, his words coming out slow and slurred together.  
  
"It doesn't matter-" she started, but he cut her off. His frame of mind was coming back to him.  
  
"It does matter, what did he do to you?"  
  
"I'm not going to tell you, Chris." She said, before helping him stand.  
  
"Why won't you tell me, don't you trust me?"  
  
"Of course I do, but-"  
  
"But what, Steph? Huh? Tell me!" He yelled angrily If she dropped her arm, he would be in some serious trouble because he had no sense of balance again yet.  
  
"You'd have a huge rage thing like you're doing right now!" She yelled at him. Steph took her arm away from him, to explain her point with her hands. Chris fell to his knees again. The TV was still on from when they had proposed to play truth or dare, the mute was on, but he could guess what they were saying. He didn't know what to do; he was in shock.  
  
**2:59** The picture on the screen said it all.  
  
"What is it, Chris?" Steph asked, getting concerned.  
  
"That's my parents' house." He mumbled.  
  
**3:00** 


	4. 3:00 to 4:00AM

Disclaimer: I own no one.  
  
A/N: OK, you all got the idea that each chapter is an hour, so I can cut that out. If there's typos in the chapter, don't tell me, I can find them on my own, and it means that the stuff was coming into my head so fast, I couldn't get it all down. Anyways, enough of my babbling, so enjoy!!  
  
**  
  
3:00-4:00AM  
  
**3:00** Chris watched the TV screen in horror as he saw his parents' house go up in flames. It was on the news, and they had a helicopter on looking th site. The fire had grown to an enormous state. His mouth was hanging open as he stared at the figures on the screen. Steph was talking to him, but none of it was channeling into his brain.  
  
Steph turned the TV off of mute, and they listened to the reporter.  
  
"...We are live here on site of a fire that has gone raging out of control. It has burned this house, almost to the ground, and the firefighters are trying to save what's left, and as you can see behind me, that's not much. There are no reports as to whether or not the house was empty, but as soon as we receive any word on it, we'll be sure to report it. JoAnne?" Steph turned the TV off at that.  
  
"Call them, Chris. Call them and ask if they're alright." Chris nodded numbly. He stood once again, and sat on the couch. He picked up the phone and dialed the home phone first.  
  
One ring...two rings..three rings....four...five...Then, there was silence. Chris started to tear up, so he blinked a few times and dialed his mom's cell phone. It rang and rang and rang, but no one answered.  
  
"There's no answer at home, or her cell. I think that they....that they..we..were.." He stopped and turned the TV back on. The reporter was back on saying something about how the firefighters thought they had the fire under control and they had learned that there were people inside.  
  
Chris put his head in his hands. Steph sat next to him and hugged him. She couldn't even try to imagine what was going through his head right now.  
**3:07** "We have learned that there were two people in the house at the time that the gas leak explosion occurred. Their names are being withheld for security reasons. We are told that it was a man and a woman, perhaps in their 60s. If-" Chris hit the mute button. He wanted to hear no more of what they had to say about it. He had convinced himself that it was his parents. He would recognize that house if he was half out of his mind or drunk as a dog.  
  
Unfortunately, he couldn't convince himself that they had perished in the fire.  
  
"This day sucks, you know that?" He said to her shoulder, because she was still hugging him.  
  
"Tell me about it." She replied. They hugged for a little longer and Chris turned the TV off. He began to walk towards his office.  
  
"What are you going to do?" She asked him. He sighed.  
  
"I don't know. I'm going to try and write to get my mind off of this, but I don't think that it's going to work. I need to figure out what we're going to do once ape-nose out there wakes up, and thinks of another way to kill us. But, before all of that, I'm going to take two aspirin to get my headache to lessen down." He said. She smiled.  
  
"Sorry about that. Want me to help with any of that?" She offered. He shrugged.  
  
"Go ahead. If you want to follow me around or something, that's fine, too. But if you're coming, lets go because my head is killing me." Steph got up and followed him into the kitchen, where he, as promised, took two aspirin and stood there for a couple of minutes thinking.  
  
"Thanks for helping me get away from Hunter," she said. Chris smirked.  
  
"I think that would be my line. After all, had you not come along, I'd probably still be lying on the floor getting my ass kicked."  
  
"Well, I just saw you and decided to help, since I had to get some kind of payback on him." She said, and then she yawned.  
  
"Don't do that," he warned, but it was too late. He yawned seconds after her.  
  
**3:18** "Maybe we should take a nap," Steph suggested. She walked into the living room again, and Chris followed her. He momentarily stopped by the bathroom to lift his shirt and look at his ribs. His stomach was already turning reddish/purple, and he was going to be on sore puppy come tomorrow morning.  
  
"Hey, there's not enough room for both of us on that couch." He said as she laid down. She shrugged.  
  
"So?"  
  
"So? I want to be able to keep an eye on you, after all, Hunter is laying right outside on the welcome mat."  
  
"Good point." She commented and they made their way up to Chris' room. She sat on a side of the bed and thought for a second.  
  
"I promise I won't molest you while you sleep." Chris said with a smile. Steph just looked at him.  
  
"It's not that, I just..." She said. Chris stopped smiling.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I think I'm ready to tell you about what happened out there."  
  
"Steph you don't have to because-"  
  
"No Chris, I have-"  
  
"Because," he continued, "I already know. I promise you, I am nothing like him." She looked at him strangely for a minute or two and was about to ask a question when he spoke again.  
  
"I can read you like a book on things like that, Stephanie McMahon." He said and she smiled. He smiled back and tilted her chin up with his hand. Then, he got up and walked around to the other side of the bed. They both climbed in and laid back against their pillows. Before he knew what he was doing, Chris put his arm around Steph and she rolled closer to him. Then, they both fell asleep.  
  
**3:24** Hunter wiggled around on the mat and eventually made it to the corner so he could cut the ropes that were tied around his hands and feet. Once he had finished that, his cell phone rang. He stood up, and fished it out of his pocket. He had a headache like Chris did, only his was a little worse.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Have you finished them off yet?" the voice on the other end asked.  
  
"No, not yet."  
  
"Get the job done, Hunter, and make it look like he killed her, then committed suicide. We can't have a lot of publicity on this."  
  
"Consider it done." Hunter said, then hung up. He walked over to his car and opened the trunk. "Screw suicide. I'll kill them anyway I see fit." He mumbled to himself. Then he pulled a gas can out of his trunk.  
  
**3:29** Hunter had walked all the way around the house, spraying the gas along the side, like he had done to Irvine's parents' house. He threw the can back in the trunk and pushed his car down the driveway. He didn't car where it went. It wasn't his car anyways. He'd gotten it from that person. Or so they said. Anyways, his car was a little ways down the road and he'd get it in a minute.  
  
Hunter stood on the doorstep and thought for a minute before striking a match. He stepped back a little bit, and then threw the match down on the gas.  
  
**3:31** The gas instantly caught fire, and went in a circle around the house. Hunter turned and ran down the road to his car, so he could watch it from a distance.  
  
Upstairs in the house, Stephanie rolled over on Chris' arm, and he was completely out of it. Steph wrinkled her nose and woke up. That smell was not one that smelled inviting. She looked over at Chris and then she heard it. His smoke detector started to scream from the hallway. Chris just rolled over and put the pillow over his head.  
  
"Chris, wake up!" She yelled over the smoke detector.  
  
"That stupid thing does that every once in a while." He mumbled in his sleep. Steph slapped him. His eyes shot open.  
  
"What was that for?!" he demanded.  
  
"Listen!" she screamed as the smoke alarm kept going off. He hopped out of bed and threw on some sneakers. Steph grabbed a pair of his sneakers that were sitting next to the bed.  
  
"Let's go!! We're going downstairs; follow me and cover your mouth with this!" He yelled as he handed her an old t-shirt, after grabbing one for him. They bolted downstairs and Chris saw the flames that covered the windows. His whole house was surrounded by fire and it was going to start burning anytime soon. Chris ran for the kitchen, and grabbed his keys from the counter. He snatched his coat and used it to open the door to the garage.  
  
He ran around to the other side of the car and waited for Steph to come out.  
  
"What are you going to do?" She asked.  
  
**3:36** "Do you trust me?" he asked as he opened the door to the car.  
  
"I guess." She said as she climbed in the car next to him. Chris started the car and heavy metal music started to blare over the speakers. He turned it down a little, and punched the button for the garage door to open. He made a quick sign of the cross and shifted the car into reverse.  
"Keep your fingers crossed." He told her, then he slammed on the gas. As luck would have it, he just got his back tires out of the garage and over the line of fire there, when a huge part of the supporting banisters of the garage fell on the car's hood. The garage door itself tumbled down on top of that, trapping the car, half in, half out of the garage with fire underneath it.  
  
"Christ..."Chris said as he began to shift gears to get the car to move. Stephanie just stared out the windshield horrifyingly as she saw the fire rise up the huge piece of wood.  
  
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," Chris muttered as he put it in reverse again. He slammed on the gas, but the car stayed where it was.  
  
**3:39** Flames licked the gas tank as Chris tried desperately to get the car moving. Tears began to slide down Steph's face as he shifted gears again.  
  
"Come on!! Come on, you piece of junk!!" He yelled as the car budged a mere inch or two backwards.  
  
"We need to get out of the car, Chris!!" she screamed at him. He glanced at her.  
  
"We need the car to come with us so we can get to Connecticut." He said as he shifted into drive again.  
  
"Why would we go to Connecticut?" Steph asked as Chris slammed on the gas again. This time, he sped right back into the garage, stopping seconds before he hit the back wall, which was made of concrete.  
  
**3:43** "We'd go to Connecticut to get your dad, and your family. If we somehow made it on the same list, and my parents are dead, what do you think he's going to do your family?" Chris said. Steph nodded, he made sense with what he said.  
  
"It's now or never for getting out of here." He said to her. He shifted into reverse one more time and slammed on the gas. The car flew through the huge piece of wood and the garage door. He had to slam on the brakes to avoid flying down the hill his house was located on.  
  
Chris sighed as he laid his head back against the seat. He silently thanked the big man upstairs for not killing him yet. Stephanie trembled after their close call. Both of them could only watch as Chris saw his house burn to the ground.  
  
**3:47** Chris sat there in disbelief as his house slowly melted away. It was useless to call the fire department out here. The house was already almost gone. He fought back tears as he thought of all the memories that house held for him. He closed his eyes and rested his head on the steering wheel. After a few minutes, sirens became audible, so he shifted into drive and headed in the direction of Connecticut.  
  
**3:51** Hunter growled as he saw Chris' car begin towards the interstate. He re-dialed the person that he had been talking to earlier.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"They got away."  
  
"Damn." It said, silence endured for a while, then.  
  
**3:59** "Follow him and kill them." It said. Hunter nodded.  
  
"Got it." He said, then hung up. He started his car and drove off in the direction of the interstate.  
  
**4:00** 


	5. 4:00 to 5:00AM

Disclaimer: Still borrowing the characters. (If I owned these guys, would I really be writing this story? I don't think so!)  
  
A/N: Story layout is still the same. Don't want to blab too much, but thanks to all who have reviewed!! I hope that this story gets 100, but you never know. Alright, back to the story!!  
  
4:00-5:00AM  
  
**4:00** Hunter directed his car towards the interstate as the fire department made their way to Chris' house. Chris and Stephanie sat in silence as they turned onto the East-Bound lane. The heavy metal music that was still blaring through the speakers was the only thing that kept the car from going into total silence.  
  
"I'm sorry, Chris." She said as he turned onto the off ramp into the direction of Connecticut. He said nothing. He simply kept his eyes on the road and a firm grip on the wheel. Stephanie sighed and turned to face out the window.  
  
**4:05** Chris glanced at Stephanie. Yeah, she'd had a lot happen to her in the past 4 hours, but he had had just as much happen to him. He'd just witnessed his house burn to the ground, and his parents were dead, now too. But, he couldn't grieve for them just yet. He had to help Stephanie get through the rest of this day. He absently swapped CDs and put in his Fozzy CD. He saw Steph eyeball him from the corner of his eye.  
  
"Y'know, this stuff isn't all that bad." She admitted. Chris kind of smirked.  
  
"Really?" he asked her. She smiled when she heard him talking again.  
  
"Really." She said. He smiled at her as his car phone began to ring.  
  
**4:12** "Hello?" He asked as he picked up the phone.  
  
"Where is she, is she with you?" A voice asked anxiously on the other end of the phone.  
  
"She's fine, Vince. She's right here with me. We're on our way to Connecticut as we speak." Chris said, trying to reassure his boss. Steph rolled her eyes as she thought about what her father must be saying.  
  
"All right. She's with you then?" Vince asked. Chris sighed.  
  
"Yeah, Vince, she's right here next to me. Would you like to talk to her?"  
  
"Yes. I would, thank you Chris." He replied. Chris handed the phone to Steph.  
  
**4:18** "Daddy?" she asked as she picked up the phone.  
  
"Hey sweetie, how are you?"  
  
"Perfectly fine thanks to the man next to me." She said, smiling. She thought she saw Chris blushing a little bit.  
  
"That's wonderful, darling. Do you have any idea about where Hunter is?" Vince asked. "I've been trying to get a hold of him for hours now, and he still isn't answering at home."  
  
"Actually, he's been after me all morning. He's been trying to kill me daddy. And Chris. Chris' parents are dead because of something he had a hand in." Steph explained quickly to her father. The older McMahon listened and sighed.  
  
"OK, be careful, sweetheart. Have Chris look after you, maybe I'll give him a raise."  
  
"DAD!!"  
  
"Sorry, Steph, just be careful, ok? I've got to go, I'll see you soon."  
  
"Bye." She said. Then she hung up. Steph replaced the phone and leaned back in her seat.  
  
**4:23** "Did Daddy have any words of wisdom for us?" Chris asked in a mocking tone. Steph smiled and lightly punched his arm.  
  
"Only to look out for Hunter." She said.  
  
"Why? Oh, right because he-uh is-uh the game-uh. Right?"  
  
"Precisely." Steph answered. A sudden thought occurred to her, and before she could stop herself, she said it.  
  
"I can't believe that I got in a car with you again after what happened.." Steph said, her voice trailing off when she saw Chris' suddenly saddened expression.  
  
He sighed. "We can't dwell on what happened in the past. What happened, happened, and there's nothing you or I can do to change it. If I could change it, believe me, I would. After all, Eric being my cousin and all, it hurts twice as much." Chris said. He trailed off, and Steph just stared at him.  
  
**4:25** Hunter sat in his car, following the car in front of him, knowing full well, who was in the vehicle. He was following Chris and Stephanie. Getting lost in his thoughts, he was snapped back to reality by his phone. He picked it up and answered it.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Have you finished them off yet?" The voice asked.  
  
Hunter sighed.  
  
"They keep getting away."  
  
"Well, that's too bad, now isn't it?"  
  
"I'll get them, just give me time."  
  
"That's the problem, Hunter!!" It hissed at him. Hunter rolled his eyes. "We're running out of time!! You've got 12 hours, Hunter, and if they're not dead by then, you will be." It said, then hung up.  
  
Hunter hung up the phone and glared at the car in front of him. This was going to be one long-ass day.  
  
**4:35** The car had slipped into awkward silence again after Chris had said that he was cousins with Eric Bischoff. Steph wondered how it was possible for such a nice guy to be related to a total -pardon the French- a total asshole. Chris just sat there, deep in thought as he drove endlessly on.  
  
The Fozzy CD was still in and it was currently playing the song, 'Happenstance'. Chris hummed along with the song, while he thought of what else to say to Steph about how he could explain his remark, but he could think of none. She didn't seem to mind. Matter of fact.....she was asleep.  
  
**4:46** Chris smiled when he saw Stephanie sleep for the first time in that day. He absently moved a piece of hair out of her face, while his mind was screaming at him to leave her alone because she was still married to ape-nose.  
  
He went back to watching the road after a few seconds. He was thinking over the events of the day, and didn't get very far before his head started to hurt again. The day was no where near over yet, and the man had already been put through hell.  
  
**4:49** "Not bad for a start." He said to himself. Chris glanced in his rearview mirror and saw that the same car had been following him for about an hour now, but he dismissed it as nothing.  
  
**4:53** Hunter drummed his fingers along the steering wheel, as if trying to decide what to do. He made up his mind quickly. He check his side mirrors to ensure that no other cars were close by and that he was ok to go into the passing lane. Hunter turned on the blinker, then made his way up to Chris' car. He got the cars exactly even with one another, then he rammed Chris' car.  
  
**4:59** "Shit!!" Chris yelled as he tried to regain control of the car. Steph was jolted awake again. Hunter rammed the car again as they were going over a creek bed that had a huge drop-off to it. Hunter rammed the car hard, and sent it tumbling over the edge of the drop-off.  
  
**5:00** 


	6. 5:00 to 6:00AM

Disclaimer: Still own nothing. Even if I did, and told you, would you honestly believe me?  
  
A/N: Sorry about not updating again. Time is a killer around here. Last week was horrendously busy. Hopefully, this week will be better. Story is still set up like 24. And, btw, to the reviewer kingster, I am not Marcella. I have no idea who Marcella is, but I know that I am not her. Now, back to the story......  
  
**5:00-6:00AM**  
  
**5:00** "Oh my God," Steph muttered as the car tumbled over the drop-off. She squeezed her eyes shut. Chris, however, was either not that smart, or didn't think about it. He kept his eyes open and concentrated on trying to steer the car.  
  
"Hold on to something!!" He screamed. In his mind he heard the faint screams of a woman and two children. He also heard his own voice screaming to get down. Chris was snapped out of his daydream by the car suddenly jolting forward, making him hit his head on the steering wheel, and making Steph fly forwards. The windshield shattered around them, and Steph was now hunched down by the glove box. The car continued to roll and turn like a sick roller coaster.  
  
"Chris!" Steph screamed, as his head was suddenly snapped to the side, smashing the driver's side window.  
  
"Keep down Steph!!" He screamed. Miraculously, he was still conscious after the blow. He was suddenly jerked back into sitting position by the seat belt. He saw the tree up ahead that they would almost inevitably hit, and he heard the unmistakable crunch of bone in his head. His own voice was screaming, eternally screaming for God's forgiveness.  
  
He blacked out as soon as they hit the tree.  
  
**5:03** Steph got over her shock quickly and looked up at Chris, who was suspended upside-down by his seat belt. Her belt had broken while the car was still rolling, but obviously, his had not.  
  
**5:05** "Chris!!" she yelled at him. He didn't move. "Chris!!" she yelled again. She saw a thing line of blood that began to roll down his face from the window that his head had cracked. She wiggled her way up to him and tried to unbuckle him. After a few seconds, it came loose and he broke his nose on the steering wheel.  
  
**5:09** Chris let out a yelp of pain and felt tears begin to form in his eyes. He made a mental note to add this to the list of injuries that he'd had throughout the course of the day.  
  
"Chris, are you ok?" Steph asked. He winced and nodded his head.  
  
"Other than my nose, my head, my ribs and my stomach, yeah, I'm perfectly fine." He said sarcastically. He sat up and looked at her. She looked like hell, but he could imagine that he looked about 10 times worse than she did. It looked like she had a black and some scratches from when the windshield broke out.  
  
**5:12** "I suppose that we should try to get out of here, huh?" Steph smiled.  
  
"It might be a good idea." She admitted.  
  
"You know, I'm beginning to understand why to have so few friends," Chris said, while holding his nose, to minimize the bleeding.  
  
"Oh really?"  
  
"Yeah, you're like a walking plague, look what all you've done to me." Chris said, grinning, even through the pain.  
  
"Well, this is new to both of us, I've never had a day quite like this one before."  
  
"Me either. I get the feeling that we're going to have to deal with a lot more before this day is over with." Chris said, before starting to climb out the window that he smashed.  
  
**5:17** After he got out, Chris offered a hand to help Stephanie.  
  
"Thanks," she told him sincerely.  
  
"No problem."  
  
"Listen Chris, about what I said yesterday..." Chris heard those screams again momentarily, but he shoved them out of his head.  
  
"It doesn't matter, Steph, I'm over it." Chris said, quickly, hoping to get on another subject.  
  
"Let me finish. I'm sorry about what I said to you. I didn't mean for it to come out like that."  
  
"It's ok Steph, I've already forgiven you for it. Now we need to get a move on, so Hunter won't see us, if he comes looking." Chris said, then took her hand and they began to make their way down the hill.  
  
**5:20** Hunter stood on the side of the road and looked at where Chris' car had flown over the interstate. He smiled when he saw the car explode. His job was finished. He dialed the person whom he'd been talking to throughout the morning.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
**5:23** "It's over." Hunter said. The man on the other end smiled and the girl in bed next to him giggled.  
  
"Nice work, Helmsley. I'll send your bonus in the mail." He said.  
  
"Thank you. Would you like me to search the area, just to be sure?"  
  
"If you wish. Nice job Hunter, you'll hear from me again at 7:00PM. That's when Phase 2 comes into play."  
  
"Got it." Hunter said, then hung up. The man on the other end also hung up and smiled at the female that was sitting next to him.  
  
"Are they dead?" she asked.  
  
"Finally, yes." He said. She smiled.  
  
"I think that calls for a little celebration." She said seductively.  
  
"I think that you're right." He said, as they began to kiss.  
  
**5:31** Chris and Steph were sitting at a stream, washing off and flicking water at each other.  
  
"Hey, stop it!!" Chris yelled in mock outrage. His nose was no longer bleeding, but it still hurt a bit.  
  
"You got me wetter than I did you!!" Steph yelled.  
  
"Whatever." Chris said, then stood up. Steph watched him walk around while she absently ran her hand through the stream. Chris stopped and looked into the distance.  
  
"Steph look at this!!" He hissed. She stood up and walked over to him.  
  
**5:35** "It's beautiful," She remarked. Chris nodded. The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon.  
  
"It's rising early today." He said absently. Before he knew what was happening, Steph tackled him into the stream and pinned his hands above his head.  
  
"Gotcha!!" She yelled. He smiled softly at her, even though he was soaking wet, and she was the cause for that. She grinned back.  
  
"That's what you think!!" He bellowed and tossed her off to the side. Then, he rolled over to pin her.  
  
"Hey, that's not fair!! You weigh more than I do!!" She shouted.  
  
"So?" Chris said. "You started it, you need to finish it." She raised her head slowly and kissed him. Chris was taken off guard, but joined in and started to kiss her back, positive that he was going to get slapped just as soon as he let her go. Finally, he broke the kiss and leaned back, ready for a slap. Nothing happened. He stood up and helped her stand, then he helped her up. They both stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do or say.  
  
**5:41** "So which way do we go from here?" Chris asked, suddenly.  
  
"Doesn't matter. I go where you go." She said. Chris smiled.  
  
"I don't know if I should be flattered or worried. Based on how this day has been going...."  
  
"Oh just shut up! I know I'm bad luck, let's just get moving." Both of them started walking toward the direction that they thought the interstate was.  
  
"Race you to the end of the stream!!" Chris yelled as he took off running.  
  
"You cheater!!" She yelled as she took off after him.  
  
**5:53** Hunter found the car, what was left of it, and peered inside. He didn't see what he was expecting to see. He didn't see two rotting corpses, what he saw was burning leather.  
  
He peered at the ground next to the car. There were two different tracks, both identical in size.  
  
Hunter cursed under his breath and called the man again.  
  
"What?" The man demanded, obviously angered.  
  
"We have a problem." Hunter said.  
  
"Oh we do?"  
  
"Yeah, apparently, they got out before it exploded."  
  
"Good for them, bad for you."  
  
"I can get them, they left tracks everywhere."  
  
"Find them and kill them Hunter, no more mistakes!"  
  
"I will."  
  
"My original deal returns now, if they aren't dead by 4, then you will be."  
"I got it." Hunter said finally, then hung up.  
  
**5:59** "Great, they're supposed to be dead!!" He yelled. The woman in the bed leaned back against the pillows.  
  
"He'll find them, babe, just have faith."  
  
"He'd better, Trish, or you and I are going to be in some deep shit soon." Eric Bischoff said.  
  
**6:00**  
**What to look forward to in the next chapter:  
  
**More Jericho/Steph goodness  
  
**A little trip into the past, about what's haunting Chris.  
  
**More insight on Bischoff's evil plan  
  
**And last, but never least, another cliffhanger!! 


	7. 6:00 to 7:00AM

Disclaimer: I own no own in the story...as you would expect..  
  
A/N: Hmm..not much to say, other than I can't see who reviewed last chapter and what they said. Thanks to whomever did. My computer sucks major butt, but thanks anyway!!  
  
**  
  
**6:00-7:00**  
  
**6:00** Hunter followed the tracks that Chris and Stephanie left until he reached the stream. There, he lost which direction they turned because there were no revealing tracks.  
  
"Damn," he muttered. He'd lost them again. He decided to pick a direction and see if he could find them. If not, well he'd lie and say that he killed them personally. Then he would hop a plane to the farthest country he could find. He hoped it wouldn't come to that, though.  
  
**6:02** Hunter picked the route that led in the direction that the sun was rising. He followed the stream and crossed his fingers.  
  
**6:05** Four miles ahead of him, Chris and Steph were panting from running so much.  
  
"I beat you!!" He exclaimed, his head still pounding and every part of his body aching. He walked in a circle and held up an imaginary belt. Steph rolled her eyes. The stream hadn't stopped, like he said would be the finish point for the race, he had just gotten tired of running. Steph smile anyways. Chris yawned a little and popped his back.  
  
"You think 'ole ape nose is still following us? We probably left a million tracks." He said. She shrugged.  
  
"Given the velocity at which we fell off of the hill, and the time it took us to get here, if Hunter hasn't started stalking us again, he will be soon." She answered. Chris stared at her with a blank look on his face.  
  
**6:11** "What?" She asked.  
  
"Oh, nothing at all, I was just wondering why you answered a very simple question with a bunch of crazy terminology."  
  
"Shut up." She told him. He stuck out his tongue and peered up the hill from which they had just run down.  
  
"I think that we need to keep moving."  
  
"Whatever you say."  
  
"Are you mad at me for making fun of you, princess?" He mocked her. She rolled her eyes.  
  
"How could I be mad at you? You're the highlight of the night!! No woman that is drunk can resist you!!"  
  
"That's right-hey wait a minute!"  
  
"Just shut up and go, Irvine."  
  
"Keep in the stream, princess."  
  
**6:17** Eric Bischoff looked at Trish, who was resting her head against a pillow at the moment. She was his spy. She told him what Vince was planning to do, and even had put in a word for him to be the new GM of RAW. He supposed that he would be named it on RAW tonight, which he had no problem with. He couldn't wait until after the show, though. Because that's where the real fun would begin.  
  
But, he wouldn't dwell on that too much. It was an ingenious plan, if he could say so himself.  
  
Eric walked over to his laptop and read the same thing that he'd been reading for 2 years.  
  
"Car Crash Kills Three, Leaves Two in Critical Condition." He felt his blood boil just by reading the title of the article.  
  
"Chris Irvine, Stephanie McMahon, you will finally suffer the same fate as my wife and children." He said to himself.  
  
**6:21** Eric allowed his mind to wander about what Trish had told him earlier. She had told him that she was out at a club with a few of the other superstars, Irvine and Stephanie included, and they all had a few drinks. Although few, she said was a vast understatement. The subject of the crash had come up in their conversation.....  
  
"Yeah, Junior over there was driving," Steph started. Chris shot her a glare to try and silence her.  
  
"Give a rest Steph, I don't need you to hassle me about this too, now." He told her, but she kept going.  
  
"Yeah, sure, it was an accident, but either way, it makes you a murderer, Chris. You know that, don't you?" She yelled. Chris lowered his head as the screams filled his mind again. He tried to shove them away, but they wouldn't leave, and he feared that they would never leave. He spoke softly.  
  
"It was late, the road was wet; it was an honest to God accident, Steph. You know that as much as I do." Chris said.  
  
"Sure, I do Chris. Sure I do. Murderer....Murderer....." She taunted him. Chris muttered something and walked out. Stephanie kept chanting it until he was out of sight.  
  
**6:27** Eric smiled. If what Trish said was true, then their relationship was not a strong one. It would be even easier to tear them apart.  
  
**6:30** Hunter kept walking along the creek bed until he found something that he'd been hoping to see.  
  
A footprint.  
  
He looked at it closely. It looked like the ones he'd seen before.  
  
"Gotcha." He muttered.  
  
"Um, actually, I beg to differ." Steph said suddenly from behind him. He almost jumped out of his skin. He hadn't been expecting to see her.  
  
"Hello Steph, glad to see that you're ok. Where's Chris?"  
  
"We got angry and went our separate ways. I think it had something to do with what I said to him the night before."  
  
Hunter nodded. His luck was changing for the better.  
  
"Well, Steph, how about you come on back with me, and we'll talk about everything?" Hunter said. He wrapped an arm around her and grabbed a hold of the gun in his coat. He pulled it out as Chris tackled him to the ground. The gun went flying out of Hunter's grasp, and the two men went at it.  
  
**6:39** Steph picked up the gun and back away. After her experience with the skillet, she didn't think she wanted to take her chances with a gun.  
  
Both of them rolled around throwing punches, but it didn't look like either man would ever get the advantage. Steph gulped and raised the gun.  
  
**6:42** Chris glanced over and saw that Steph was trying to get a clear shot, be he also took a guess that she didn't know how to fire a gun. Chris ran for the nearest tree and grabbed onto a huge branch. He weight made it crack, and Chris tossed it at Hunter, hitting him in the head. Hunter slumped to the ground. Stephanie was still holding the gun in her hands, but her hands were shaking so hard, she couldn't have hit someone if they were standing right in front of her.  
  
**6:46** Stephanie let the gun slip from her hands and started to cry. Chris ran over to her and hugged her. She sobbed into his chest and kept shaking for a few minutes.  
  
**6:53** Eric pulled on his jeans and absently wondered what Hunter was doing. He grabbed a phone and dialed the cell.  
  
Chris was still holding Steph when the phone began to ring.  
  
"Oh great." He muttered. "Now what do we do?"  
  
"Answer it." Steph said into his chest. He nodded and went over to pick it up as it rang for the third time. He picked it up and answered it.  
  
"Hello?" Chris asked in his best HHH voice.  
  
"Hunter, have you found them yet?" Bischoff yelled into the phone. Chris' jaw dropped in shock. His eyes went wide and he nearly dropped the phone. He'd know that man's voice anywhere.  
  
**6:59** "Uh yeah, I think I see 'em up ahead. I'll call you back." Chris said hurriedly, then hung up the phone.  
  
"Who was it?" Steph asked, seeing his expression. The phone slipped from his hand. He stared into thin air with a look of complete shock frozen on his face. Steph walked over to him and waved a hand in front of his face. Finally he spoke.  
  
**7:00** "Eric Bischoff." He whispered.  
  
**  
  
What to expect next chapter:  
  
-Details of the crash  
  
-Another surprise  
  
-Yet another cliffhanger!!! 


	8. 7:00 to 8:00AM

Disclaimer: Yeah, so I don't own anything. Give me a break.  
  
A/N: Sorry about the lack of updates. That's the way the ball rolls sometimes. Anyways, I hope to be getting back to a regular schedule sometime soon. Be looking for me to update the story primarily on Sundays. (Saturday for Australians, I think). Bottom line, it'll be on weekends whenever the free time arises. Thanks for your patience with me, and now, finally, I bring you the next chapter in the long day of Chris Irvine and Stephanie McMahon's lives!!  
  
**7:00-8:00AM**  
  
**7:00** "Eric Bischoff?" Stephanie asked in disbelief. "What would he be doing with Hunter's number?"  
  
Chris looked down at the ground for a little bit, to try and collect his thoughts before giving her an answer. He ran a hand down the side of his face, dismayed to feel the prickle of facial hair against his skin. He sighed.  
  
"I don't think that Bischoff wanted to just talk to Hunter. I think that Bischoff has some sort of plan cooked up to get back at us." He finally said. Stephanie was confused for a little bit.  
  
"You mean Bischoff was using Hunter to ....to kill us?" Stephanie asked, her thoughts all beginning to make assumptions and twist around.  
  
"Exactly." Chris said, his own thoughts becoming disorganized.  
  
"Why....Why would he want to.....to do that to us? What did we ever do to him?" Steph asked him. Chris began to walk towards an embankment. He heard the screams in his head again. His stomach sank as he realized what was happening. Chris swallowed a few times, since his throat had become unusually dry. Then, he turned back to face her.  
  
"Because I killed his family." Chris said somberly. He turned back to feel the warm rays of the sun wash over him once again as realization hit Steph like a ton of bricks.  
  
"Oh my God, the accident. You and I..." Steph trailed off as the words she had said to him floated back into her mind. Chris swallowed again and raised his head to face the sun. The memories that had haunted him only in his dreams no found their way back to him.  
  
**7:04** He bit his lip as all of the memories washed over him in a huge wave. He was driving along to Connecticut and something had happened to where the car had started to spin around. Bischoff had some office work to do, so Chris offered to give his wife and kids a ride home. Stephanie was also riding home with them because she needed to speak with her father about something, and since he was going that way, she wanted to ride with them. Not to mention that Steph and Chris had just started dating.  
  
They were going around a corner and something went terribly wrong. The car slid on something and began to spin around. Chris turned the wheel back and forth, desperately trying to regain control of the car. They came to the edge of the highway and started to slide down the hill. The car hit a bump and began to roll down, flipping over and over.  
  
Stephanie had been thrown from the car on the first roll, and miraculously made it out with only a few scratches. Her window was the only window that was down, and the car had spun around one more time before rolling the rest of the way down. She was, consequently knocked unconscious for that time and remembered nothing other than up to the time of her being thrown from the car. Chris had been flipped around and was pinned facing the backseat. Bischoff's daughter, Eliza, was thrown from the car outside the backseat passenger window. Her head was already cut beyond repair by the glass, but to add to it, the car rolled over her.  
  
Bischoff's son, Jack, didn't even have a chance. He was tossed headfirst into a tree that cracked his skull and severed his spinal cord. He was killed instantly. Bischoff's wife, Marissa, and Chris were the only two left in the car, and the only two wearing seatbelts. Chris was facing Marissa when the windshield shattered from behind him. A piece of glass caught her in the throat. Another piece flew into Chris' back. Marissa tried to scream, but she couldn't.  
  
She fell forwards onto Chris, driving the piece of glass deeper into her throat and initially killing her. Chris tried to get free of the seatbelt that held him, but he couldn't budge. The best he could do was get Marissa away from him. He looked out one of the side windows and noticed that a tree was coming up, so he covered his head with his hands. The roof of the car was smashed in on top of him, and knocked him unconscious.  
  
And the rest, as they say, is history.  
  
**7:12** Chris shook his head to get the images out of his head. He hadn't known what the hell went wrong that night; he hadn't been drinking or under the influence of drugs. The police said that it was just a freak accident.  
But then again, they weren't the ones who had to explain to their boss that they killed his family, were they?  
  
Chris stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked a clump of dirt around. He suddenly wondered why it was so quiet. He turned around to look for Stephanie, when he saw Hunter holding the gun to her head.  
  
**7:18** "Take one step towards me, Chris, and I'll blow her brains right out of her skull." He threatened. Chris cursed at himself in his mind, and remained motionless. He was also vaguely aware that he was still standing close to the edge of an embankment. Maybe he could use that for something....  
  
"You are so predictable, Irvine. You love her, don't you? It doesn't really surprise me because of how protective of her you've been around her all night. You're just transparent is all." Hunter sneered. Chris bit his tongue to keep from retorting back at him. Steph wriggled around in Hunter's arms, and it was obvious that she was about to burst into tears.  
  
"What, no smug remark? No witty comeback? Cat got your tongue? No, I know what it is, the bitch here has got you by the heart, doesn't she?" Chris' already dark glare aimed at Hunter, only darkened after the comment.  
"If I killed her, I'd actually be doing you a favor, Chris, you need to see it like I do." Hunter said. Chris could take no more of this.  
  
"That's just the problem, Hunter. I can't get my head that far up my ass." He said, his temper finally getting the better of him. Hunter smiled as he tightened his grip around Stephanie's neck.  
  
"You know what? I think that I'm going to keep Steph alive a little while longer. Eric would be pleased to see her." Hunter said. Chris already knew what was coming. Hunter moved the gun from Stephanie to Chris. Steph screamed.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry Steph, you would want to watch him die, wouldn't you?" Hunter mocked, then moved her in front of him, so that she could watch.  
  
"Now we can watch him die together." Hunter stated smugly. Steph was crying at this point, but she tried to stay firm. Chris wanted nothing more than to be able to hold her and tell her everything would be ok.  
  
Instead, he had to tell himself that as he was staring down the barrel of a gun.  
  
Hunter smirked.  
  
"Got any last words, Irvine?" He asked. Chris managed a smile.  
  
"Sure, why not?" he answered.  
  
"So say 'em!!" Hunter yelled.  
  
**7:26** "Well, firstly, I love you Steph. Always have and always will. As far as you go, Hunter. You and I will have something in common after you shoot me." Chris said.  
  
"What's that?" Hunter asked, genuinely curious. Chris let the smirk drop from his face. His eyes lost their sparkle and he spoke with the utmost sincerity.  
  
"We'll both be murderers." He said plainly. That comment hit home for Hunter, as it was plainly written on his face. Hunter pulled the trigger of the gun, obviously not caring what it made him. The bullet caught Chris in the chest and he tripped backwards.  
  
Right off of the embankment.  
  
The last thing Chris heard before he hit the bottom was the sound of Steph's screams in the air, and the pounding of his own heart.  
  
Tears poured freely down Steph's face as she saw a man whom she loved fly off an embankment after being shot. She screamed and tried to free herself from Hunter's grip. Hunter merely smiled and kept his grip.  
  
"Shut up, or I'll use it on you too!!" He yelled. Stephanie still tried to get loose from him. So he held the gun next to her arm and fired it. It resulted in Steph getting grazed by the bullet, and it also proved that Hunter didn't care who he hurt anymore. He was going to get what he wanted, no matter what it took.  
  
**7:32** Hunter walked over to the edge of the embankment, just to ensure that he had shot Chris, and to also ensure that he wasn't moving. He actually contemplated shooting him again, but let the feeling pass. He brought Stephanie's head down so that she could see Chris.  
  
"You screw with me again, and that becomes you. Got it?" He said hoarsely. She sniffed and nodded. She finally realized that she was going to be all alone in this fight from now on. Hunter grabbed her roughly and began to drag her back up towards the interstate.  
  
**7:36** Eric ran a hand through his hair, thinking that it might release some tension in his mind. He had received a call from Vince, saying he wanted him to come to his office within the next hour or so. That confirmed that he was going to be GM, and he might even get named it tonight. Trish had left a while ago, so he was left alone with his thoughts...and his plan.  
  
His grabbed his phone and dialed Hunter's cell.  
  
The phone rang and rang. It was sitting on the ground not far from where Chris had been tossed off of the embankment.  
  
"This is H. Leave a message because I'm too busy for you right now." Eric sighed.  
  
"Hunter, it's Eric, I just want to know what's going on out there, and if you finished the job yet. Be warned. Trish is out in the open now, too, so keep an eye out for her. I'm still not sure if she's loyal to me or not, just a heads up."  
  
Eric hung up the phone and tossed it on the bed. Then he walked into the bathroom.  
  
**7:40** Hunter climbed into the front seat of his SUV and started the car. Steph was in the backseat, bound and gagged. Tears were still rolling down her face. She couldn't get the image of Chris out of her head. Hunter picked up his car phone and dialed Eric. He then pulled onto in the interstate and into some premature rush hour traffic.  
  
"Yes?" Eric growled as he picked up the phone.  
  
"It's Hunter." He said.  
  
"What's going on? Did you find them?" Hunter was a little confused that he knew he was still looking for them, but shook it off.  
  
"Yes, I found them. Irvine's dead, but Steph is here with me." Hunter said, glancing back in the rearview mirror to reassure himself. Eric smiled.  
  
"Excellent, bring her to our agreed meeting place in Connecticut."  
  
"Fine." Hunter said, then hung up. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as the traffic sped up a little bit. He hoped that he would be in Connecticut no later than noon.  
  
**7:53** Back at the embankment, the cell phone rang again. Obviously, there was no one there to answer it. The person on the other line also left a message, which played out loud to anyone who was willing to listen.  
  
"Hey baby," A voice said. "Can't wait until I find out something. Hope you get this soon. I need to talk to you about something, but first I have to get the results back. I'll let you know about it later." They finished, then hung up.  
  
**7:56** Shawn Hickenbottom walked out of the airport terminal to get in his rental car. He was really curious as to why Vince had called him. Vince owns a wrestling company, and Shawn sure as hell couldn't wrestle anymore.  
  
He shook it off and got in his car. Checked for messages and drove off.  
  
**7:59** Trish followed the car with the plates 'AM-GAME' from quite a distance. She was supposed to be checking up on him, but she wasn't supposed to be noticeable. Easier said than done.  
  
Back at the sight of the embankment, a single leaf fell from a nearby tree and landed on the face of Chris Irvine, who remained motionless.  
  
**8:00**  
  
What to expect next chapter:  
  
-run-ins from Trish and Bisch  
  
-a poor explanation from Hunter  
  
-and yes!! Yet ANOTHER cliffhanger!! 


	9. 8:00 to 9:00AM

Disclaimer: I still don't own any of these characters. Surprise, surprise.  
  
A/N: Sorry about lack of updates again!! Finally school is out and I can concentrate more on this. Hopefully story updating will be every other day. It is all dependent on how many reviews I get between days. Check out Next to Nothing, if you haven't already. For those who read both stories, I'm going to keep working on Next to Nothing until I have enough written on my new story to start posting. Thanks for being so patient with me, though, and here is yet another chapter of Drop to Zero.  
  
**  
  
8:00-9:00AM  
  
**8:00** Hunter and Steph edged along in the rush hour traffic. That's why he always liked planes better - not a whole lot of waiting to do. Hunter looked through his rearview mirror again. He sighed.  
  
"I did it for his own good. You know that, don't you Stephanie?" he asked her. She was still in the backseat, but she remained silent and the tears continued to roll down her face. Hunter sighed again. He almost cracked a smile when he thought of the situation he was in. He was trying to patch things up with his wife, who probably, no - did, hate him for what he had done to her and a guy that she liked. It made him think of a saying.  
  
"My how the mighty have fallen." He muttered.  
  
**8:04** Fifteen feet off of the embankment, Chris Irvine drew in a sharp breath. He slowly opened his eyes, and winced at the pain that consciousness brought him. For the moment, he was content to just lie there in the little rays that the sun shone on him. He started to try and remember who he was and what he had done to get in this predicament. None of his questions went without answers. Slowly, he began to sit up, and was rewarded with a horrendous pain in his upper chest.  
  
Chris looked down at the bullet wound and knew in an instant that he needed to get to a hospital to get it looked at. He could tell from moving that the bullet had not made an exit wound. Slowly, Chris made it to his feet. Although he simply wanted to lie back down, he wouldn't let himself do that. He had to find Stephanie now, and somehow warn Vince.  
  
Chris sized up the embankment. He wasn't sure if he could make it to the top without falling flat on his ass, or breaking something. He supposed that he was going to have to try. He started to walk his way up the embankment, only using his hands when necessary because of his wound. He was reminded, while climbing, of one of Stephen King's characters from the book The Stand. One who fell down an embankment and broke his leg.  
  
"I hope that this trip up doesn't end like Stu's." Chris mumbled to himself. Slowly and painfully, he made his way up to the top. When he got there, Chris collapsed on the ground next to a cell phone.  
  
**8:12** "What the hell?" Chris questioned, picking up the phone. He accidentally hit the button to listen to the messages. He listened to both Bischoff's and the mystery woman's message. He shook his head and tried calling out on the phone.  
  
"'No service'? Freaking cell phones not worth shit." Chris mumbled, standing up again. He stuck the phone in his pocket and began to walk in the general direction he thought the interstate was.  
  
**8:17** "I'm so screwed," Chris thought as he saw the cars whizzing past him, then getting stopped from some kind of traffic jam just before an exit. He shook his head and felt so helpless. There was no way he was going to make it to the hospital without collapsing from exhaustion or blood loss unless someone stopped to help him.  
  
**8:26** Vince strolled into his office at WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. He was followed by: three secretaries and a man he thought never would, Eric Bischoff. Vince sat behind his desk and motioned for all of them to sit. The secretaries told him all of his schedule and what he needed to do that day, and then they left. Eric and Vince sat in silence for a moment before speaking.  
  
"I know what happened to you two years ago, and I also know that my daughter and a person from this company walked away from it," Vince started. "But, if there is any ill-will towards me, my daughter, or Chris Irvine considering what happened, I suggest that you figure out how to drop it quick."  
  
"Trust me, Vince, I hold no ill-will towards you, or any other member of your family- for that matter. All of that is behind me. Even though it still hurts, it's behind me." Eric explained.  
  
**8:34** Vince nodded.  
  
"That's good. I'll see you later tonight then, right?" he asked. There was a twinkle in Eric's eyes for a slight moment.  
  
"Of course you will, Vince. Do you think I'm stupid enough to accept a job title, and then not show up?" Vince said nothing. Eric nodded. "I'm trustworthy Vince, you'll see." He finished, and then walked out of the office.  
  
**8:46** Chris sat on the side of the road and put his head in his hands. He quickly found out that was not the smartest thing to be doing. He winced and just sat there.  
  
"What am I gonna do?" He mumbled to himself. The traffic still wasn't backed up past the one exit. Faintly, he heard a car pull up beside him. Chris tensed up and got ready to fight if he needed to.  
  
"Chris?" A female voice asked from inside the car. Chris chanced a glance in that direction. He stood up slowly to see who had called his name.  
  
**8:53** "Trish?" Chris asked in disbelief. He could believe his luck. "What are you doing here?" Trish shrugged.  
  
"I had to get something before I headed off for the show tonight. What happened to you? Did you get shot?" Chris winced again.  
  
"Yeah, it's a long story," Chris began.  
  
"Do you need a ride to a hospital?" She asked him, then began clearing the things out of the front seat as if he'd said yes.  
  
"If you don't mind." Chris said, opening the door.  
  
"None at all, get in." She told him matter-of-factly. Chris forcefully sat down, while trying desperately to not wince. **8:59** "We need to get you to the nearest hospital ASAP." She told him. Chris nodded. He was beginning to get a headache from all of the blood loss, and everything else that had happened to him thus far. Trish's phone began to ring.  
  
**9:00** "Hello?"  
  
**  
  
Sorry that this chapter is so short. It wasn't this short when I wrote it, but some things had to be changed.  
  
What to expect next chapter:  
  
More about Trish's role in the plan  
  
Vince calls in reinforcements  
  
A doctor's visit  
  
More about Stephanie and Hunter  
  
And, YES!!!! Another cliffhanger!! 


	10. 9:00 to 10:00AM

Disclaimer: The characters in this story are not mine!!!!! Which, of course, is not surprising.  
  
A/N: I am sorry for my absence. Writer's block had me stumped for a while, and I promise to try and update more as soon as I can.  
  
**  
  
9:00-10:00AM  
  
**9:00** "Hello?" Trish asked, as she pulled her car back onto the interstate  
  
"Hey baby." Eric said.  
  
"Oh!! Hi Mom!" Trish said quickly. Chris relaxed slightly. He couldn't help but feel anxious about everyone that was around him. He didn't know whom he could and couldn't trust yet.  
  
"Is someone with you?" Eric asked. They had planned out different scenarios if something like this had ever happened.  
  
"Yeah." Trish said pleasantly.  
  
"Who is it, and where are you?"  
  
"Uh, yeah, we should be at the arena by 12. I can show you around then."  
  
"Who is with you?!" Eric almost yelled through gritted teeth.  
  
"Oh yeah, I'll have to introduce you to Chris Irvine when we get there, Mom. As a matter of fact I'm giving him a ride right now."  
  
**9:06** "Damn, call me back when you get a chance." Eric said, then hung up.  
  
"Ok, Mom, I love you too. Bye." Trish said, then hung up.  
  
"Is your mom coming to the show tonight?" Chris asked her. Trish smiled.  
  
"Yeah, she is. She's a huge fan of yours too, I hope you won't mind meeting her."  
  
"No problem." Chris said, then he winced.  
  
"Here's a hospital turn-off, do you want to get that looked at?" Trish asked him, and he nodded. They pulled off the interstate right as the traffic in front of them came to a dead stop.  
  
**9:13** Vince dialed Chris' car phone for what seemed like the hundredth time, and still got no answer. It just kept saying that the number was unavailable. Vince was worried as all hell when Stephanie's cell phone said the same thing.  
  
**9:20** Shawn Hickenbottom walked down the ever-familiar hallway of his past. He'd never walked down this hallway as himself, though. He had always been Shawn Michaels, the Heart Break Kid. But today, he was himself. Mostly thanks in part to his premature retirement. Another because he hadn't been HBK in over 5 years.  
  
And now, Vince wanted to see him.  
  
Shawn continued on down the long hallway to Vince's office. He was quickly ushered inside and took a seat. Vince was sitting behind his desk, his head in his hands.  
  
"Hey Vince, what's up? Because, forgive me for saying, but you look like crap." Shawn said after a moment of silence. Vince sniffled a little bit, then raised his head.  
  
"I know what I look like, and I know why I called you here."  
  
"At least one of us does." Shawn muttered. Vince sighed. He hoped against hope that Shawn would find nothing.  
  
"I need you to do something for me." Vince started.  
  
**9:23** "Imagine that." Shawn muttered sarcastically. He remembered what had happened the last time Vince had asked him to do something. He ended up screwing Bret Hart out of the WWE title, even though it hadn't been WWE at that time. Now, apparently, Vince had found some way to top that one.  
  
"I need you to do a little spying for me around here, Shawn. I've been trying to get a hold of Stephanie for about an hour now, and I've also tried reaching the last person she was seen with, which is Chris Irvine, but I can't get a hold of him either. Both numbers are supposedly unavailable, but I know better. I think that they've been kidnapped. I also think that the man I hired to be the General Manager of RAW is behind it."  
  
"Who's that?"  
  
"Eric Bischoff."  
  
"Wait, wait. Don't you hate Eric Bischoff?"  
  
"Yes, I do." Vince, said, sighing again. Shawn stared at him.  
  
"And you've appointed this man to be General Manager because...?"  
  
"We need the ratings, Shawn. You've seen the show, we need some help, and if that means bringing back Bischoff from unemployment, then I guess that's what needs to be done." Shawn leaned back in his chair.  
  
"Why do you need me to do this? Everyone's going to think something is up since, I haven't been here in over 3 years."  
  
"I don't want you to look around the arena. I want you to look in his hotel room."  
  
**9:36** Shawn sighed. Vince pleaded with him, through his eyes. Finally, Shawn leaned forwards.  
  
"What am I supposed to be looking for?" he asked.  
  
**9:39** "Now, Mr. Irvine."  
  
"Can you call me Chris? I really don't like the whole 'mister' thing." Chris asked. The doctor looked at him through her small glasses.  
  
"Fine. Chris, I need you to remove your shirt, so that I can extract the bullet and patch you up?" The doctor asked him. Chris thought of saying something to her, but decided that he shouldn't. He removed his shirt, and his make shift bandage came off with it, making the task more painful than it should've been.  
  
**9:42** The doctor numbed the bullet wound, not using a needle, as she got the feeling that he was one of those few men who was afraid of needles and hospitals and the like.  
  
"So, um, is this gonna hurt really bad?" Chris asked as the doctor grabbed the utensil she was going to pull the bullet out with.  
  
"Well, if you move around a lot, it will hurt more, but if you lie still, you should be okay." Chris nodded and laid down on the hospital "bed".  
  
**9:44** Trish sat out in the waiting room, holding her cell phone. She contemplated calling Eric, and then she thought about calling Vince. She could play both sides of the fence, but she didn't know if she could play both sides until this whole thing blew over. She decided to call Eric and fill him in.  
  
**9:48** Shawn walked out of Vince's office, feeling almost sick to his stomach. He couldn't believe what Vince thought Bischoff had done. Shawn trotted down the stairs and pulled out his cell phone. He remembered Vince's warning: Don't trust anybody. Well, that was just dandy, but Shawn was going to make sure that everything was ok at home. He dialed the number and walked out the front door of WWE Headquarters.  
  
**9:52** "Hello?" Rebecca asked. Shawn smiled. Just hearing his wife's voice was enough to cheer him up.  
  
"Hey babe."  
  
"Oh! Shawn, hi! Can I call you back?" Shawn frowned slightly.  
  
"Sure, babe, but can I ask why?"  
  
"I'm just in the middle of something and about to drop the phone."  
  
"Oh, okay." Shawn said, then hung up, feeling slightly confused.  
  
**9:55** Stephanie and Hunter were again stuck in traffic, not far from the exit that Trish and Chris had taken about 50 minutes earlier. The traffic remained motionless.  
  
"Stupid traffic!" Hunter yelled as he began to drum his fingers on the steering wheel. Stephanie sat silently, slowly getting the ropes around her ankles loose.  
  
**9:59** Steph got the rope off of her feet, but didn't worry about her hands. Hunter looked out his window, and Steph jumped on the opportunity. She flung her door open and began to sprint in and out of the cars.  
  
**10:00** Hunter recovered quickly and fired two shots from the gun.  
  
** 


	11. 10:00 to 11:00AM

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the people used in this story, and the layout of the story was taken from the TV show "24".  
  
A/N: Here we are with yet another update!! 41 reviews!! Awesome guys, thank you so much for taking the time out to read this story, and I hope that you continue to enjoy it!!  
  
*  
  
**10:00-11:00AM**  
  
**10:00** Steph fell to the ground and proceeded to crawl towards the side of the interstate. Hunter began to run after her. Traffic was still at a dead stop. Hunter ran in and out of the cars, screaming her name and holding the gun. She had reached the acceleration lane by this point, and she was hiding behind a small hill. She obviously had no intentions of giving her position up.  
  
**10:02** Rebecca Hickenbottom sat on the tile floor of her bathroom. She didn't know is she wanted to look or not. She heard Cameron knocking on the door, looking for her.  
  
"Be right out, Cam." She hollered, and heard the little boy sit down right next to the door to wait for her. She gathered her courage and stood up. She looked at the tube that sat on her countertop. The tube that could, certainly change lives forever. A quick glance at the pregnancy test revealed what she already knew.  
  
She was pregnant.  
  
It was bittersweet for her because there was only one thing wrong with the child that she was carrying.  
  
The child wasn't Shawn's.  
  
Cameron knocked on the door again, and Rebecca threw the test in the trash. She opened the door.  
  
"The movie's over, Momma!" Cameron exclaimed to her. Rebecca sighed wearily. She knew who the father of this unborn child was, and she also knew that Shawn was not going to like it one bit.  
  
**10:10** Chris hobbled out of the hospital room with a bottle of pills in his hand. Trish glanced up and saw that he was finished, so she ended her phone conversation hurriedly. She stood up and he walked over to her.  
  
"Are you ok? You look kind of pale." Trish commented. Chris nodded. He was thinking about Stephanie again, and how he knew that somehow he had let her down. He walked out of the hospital wordlessly, with Trish following him.  
  
"Are you sure? You look really bad." She said, trying to act concerned.  
  
Chris shook his head. "I feel horrible, I feel as if I've betrayed Stephanie somehow, by letting her get taken by Hunter again." He told her. Trish nodded. So Steph was with Hunter and Chris was with her. Both of the people Bischoff was looking for were within his grasp.  
  
Chris wandered to the far end of the parking lot, that end that overlooked the acceleration lane that led to the interstate. Trish remained a few steps away while he looked out on the traffic that was still at a stand still. Trish decided to call Eric back and tell him the good news somehow.  
  
**10:14** Eric Bischoff was in his car headed for the arena for the show tonight when his car phone rang.  
  
"Hello?" He asked.  
  
"Hi again mom." Trish said. Eric rolled his eyes.  
  
"Cut with the scenarios already, just say yes or no." He told her.  
  
"OK." Trish said, and turned back in the direction of the hospital, so that Chris wouldn't hear everything that she said. A gunshot echoed from a distance. Chris stared at the cars that remained motionless.  
  
"Trish probably chose this exit to get around the jam," Chris thought to himself. He peered harder into the traffic and saw the shape of someone, holding a gun. This same person, presumably, was screaming someone's name, and dashing in and out of cars.  
  
"What is that person saying?" He thought, completely ignoring anything that Trish was saying to him or her mom on the other end of the phone. "Cindy? No, too short. Melanie? Maybe, but not likely. Stephan-" Chris' train of thought suddenly pieced two and two together.  
  
**10:17** Chris started searching frantically for Stephanie.  
  
"It's gotta be her. That guy has to be Hunter." He said to himself. His thoughts all began to cram together as he saw a figure hiding on his side of the acceleration lane. Without thinking, Chris jumped the fence that was on the edge of the hospital parking lot, and began to run down the hill towards her. He clutched his side halfway down because he was obviously still hurting from the bullet.  
  
**10:18** Stephanie tried to sink lower into the ground to hide from Hunter, but she couldn't sink any lower. He was still bellowing her name, and the traffic still wasn't moving.  
  
"What I wouldn't give for Chris to be here right now." She muttered right before a hand clamped over her mouth. She couldn't scream, she had no voice left to do so.  
  
**10:19** "Your wish is my command," a voice whispered into her ear. She couldn't believe it! The hand moved. She turned around and was face to face with someone she thought she never would be again. Chris.  
  
"How did? I mean...." She stuttered, not knowing what to say. Chris shushed her with his index finger.  
  
"I promise I'll explain everything when I get the chance, but right now, we need to get you out of here." Chris whispered as he grabbed her hand and they made their way back up to the hospital parking lot.  
  
**10:22** Hunter walked around, screaming Stephanie's name. He no longer cared what Bischoff wanted he for, he would kill her himself. He happened to catch sight of two people making their way up the hill. One was undoubtedly Stephanie, but Hunter couldn't make out who the other person with her was. He (Hunter was pretty sure it was a guy) had blond hair with some brown up by the roots. Not to mention a little red at the tips of his hair. There was only one man who fit that description in Hunter's mind.  
  
Chris Irvine.  
  
There was no way he could've survived that, though. It had to be a look- alike.  
  
Had to be.  
  
Hunter raised his gun and aimed at the two as they neared the top of the hill. He was about to take the shot when he was distracted by the traffic beginning to move again. When he glanced up again, they were gone.  
  
**10:26** "Is Chris injured?" Eric asked as he parked his car. Trish sighed.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Maybe you should try to help him out, then." Eric suggested when Trish screamed. "What? What happened?" He yelled.  
  
"Nothing, mom, I have to call you back." Trish said, then hung up. Trish was face to face with Stephanie McMahon; Chris wasn't standing too far behind her.  
  
**10:32** "We need to get moving, Trish. Hunter's-" Trish came out of her momentary daze to register the name.  
  
"Hunter?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, Hunter's after us. We need to get moving." Chris urged. Stephanie had a look of distrust and disgust written all over her face. Trish nodded and they made their way to her car.  
  
"This day keeps getting better and better." Crhis mumbled as the three of them finally piled into Trish's car to head to Connecticut.  
  
**10:36** Shawn pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed his home again. He started to walk through the lobby. He had his lock picking set in his other pocket, along with Bischoff's room number. Shawn punched the elevator button as the phone reached its fourth ring.  
  
"Hey, this is the Hickenbottom's- no jokes about the name. If you want to talk to either Shawn (that's me) or my lovely wife Rebecca, shut up, wait for some beeps, then indulge us in what you have to say." Shawn's voice played.  
  
"Hey baby, just wanted to make sure you're ok, and to let you know that you shouldn't call me for about an hour or so, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again. Bye." Shawn said, then hung up. He checked the hallway and brought out the lock picking set. It took him two tries before finally getting it.  
  
**10:43** Shawn closed the door to Bischoff's room. He turned around and looked at everything. All in all, it looked normal so far. But, looks can be deceiving. He turned the TV on a news channel and began to nose around. Shawn raised the laptop screen, and found that it was still on. His eyes quickly scanned the screen, which was still on the newspaper article.  
  
He wasn't surprised when he was finished reading it. Bischoff still held a grudge against Chris and Stephanie for what had happened to his family.  
  
**10:46** Shawn pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, and dialed Vince's number. He picked up immediately.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Vince, it's Shawn." He said.  
  
"Did you find anything?" Vince asked worriedly.  
  
"Well, you were right, let's start there."  
  
**10:52** Trish's car flew down the interstate in silence. Chris was asleep and had his head back against the seat. Stephanie kept glancing back at Trish. It was plain that that neither woman trust the other.  
  
"How did you find Chris?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"It was rush hour traffic, and I saw him sitting on the side of the road," Trish shrugged. Steph nodded. Trish knew that she had to get rid of Stephanie or Chris soon, and all she needed was a way to do it.  
  
**10:55** A semi came on to the interstate at that point. Trish sped up to tail end it.  
  
"Trish! What are you doing?" Stephanie screamed. Chris opened his eyes to see that they were nearing the back end of a semi.  
  
**10:59** Trish slammed on the brakes, and Chris put his arms in front of his face, as he was thrown out the windshield. Her head hit the steering wheel and Stephanie, who was sitting in the back, hit her head on the center console. The car spun around and Trish slammed her foot on the gas again. The car roared forwards - right towards Chris.  
  
**11:00** 


	12. 11:00AM to 12:00PM

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story, blah, blah, blah.  
  
A/N: The site officially hates me. I have been trying to upload chapters to all three of my stories for the past 3 days. I don't know if it will show up when it gets to the main page, but when I preview the document, all of the apostrophes and quotations have weird symbols for them. I don't know what to do about it, and there's no way to get rid of it. It might just be the site, I do not know. I am really sorry about it and hope that you can still read the chapter fairly well. Sorry about the absence yet again. I had wanted to update earlier in the week, on account of July 15th being my one-year anniversary on fanfic, but my parents suddenly up and decided to go to Niagara Falls. So many stories, so little time. My computer has been junk lately, and I can't even access the site right now, but my friend has agreed to let me use her computer to update, so that's a plus. Now, finally, back to the story!!  
  
**11:00AM-12:00PM**  
  
**11:00** Chris glanced up from the pavement to see Trish's car speeding towards him. Stephanie had recovered quickly, though, and hurried over to grab the steering wheel. She jerked it sharply to the right. The car went sailing off the side of the road right into a ditch.  
  
**11:03** Clutching his side, and gasping for breath, Chris stumbled to his feet. He managed to make it to the side of the road. He stood there for a moment, watching the car go up in flames, as well as his one true love. He fell to his knees.  
  
"Stephanie," he whispered softly as the tears began to roll down his face. He heard a gun cock behind him.  
  
"Don't move." A voice from behind him said. Then he felt nothing as he slipped into unconsciousness.  
  
**11:07** Hunter stood next to his SUV at a gas station, filling up his tank and contemplating what to do next. An ambulance suddenly sped by, followed by two police cars and a fire truck. He figured that it was a long shot, but decided to check it out anyways. He paid for the gas and took off after the vehicles.  
  
**11:09** Rebecca followed her son into the living room. Her whole world seemed to be in a daze. She thought that her only option was to simply disappear from Shawn's life. That would make everything fine. Her mind was scrambled since the news of her pregnancy was confirmed. She needed to get a hold of the father again. She noticed that there was a message on the answering machine. She was dismayed to hear Shawn's voice.  
  
Cameron smirked the trademark smirk of his father's when he heard his voice. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Rebecca at this point. She reached out and slapped Cameron across the face. A huge red whelp began to appear almost immediately.  
  
"Stupid BOY!!" she screamed, slapping him again. Cameron began to cry, confused as to what he had done and the immense burning pain of where his mother had slapped him. He struggled to get away from her.  
  
"You're going to pay for what you did!" Rebecca screamed as she slapped Cameron so hard that he went sprawling on the floor. He quickly got up and ran for his room, still sobbing. For a spilt second, Rebecca felt shame for what she had done, but it passed as quickly as it had come. She chased Cameron into his room and grabbed his hand.  
  
"You must pay!" She yelled at him. She slowly dragged him up the stairs to her and Shawn's bathroom. Cameron was struggling furiously against her. She threw him into the bathroom and walked in. Cameron grabbed the phone and hit the two buttons that his father had taught him to press when he needed help. Rebecca had taken her attention away from him as he waited for his dad to answer.  
  
**11:15** Shawn's cell phone rang as he pulled out of the hotel parking lot. He looked at the caller id and saw that it was from his home. He answered it.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Dad?" Cameron asked worriedly. Rebecca whirled around with wide eyes.  
  
"Cameron?" Shawn asked, getting worried at the tone of his son's voice.  
  
"Daddy, help me!" he managed to get out before a scream was heard. The scream was undoubtedly Rebecca's.  
  
"STUPID, STUPID BOY!!!" she yelled. Shawn pulled over to the side of the road and dialed 911 on the other line. What the hell was Rebecca doing?  
  
**11:19** Hunter looked around the crash site for any sign as to whether or not Chris and Stephanie were in the accident. He wandered around the place, flashing people his false badge Bischoff had gotten him just in case. Hunter suddenly caught sight of an unconscious Chris being loaded into an ambulance. Quickly Hunter made his way over to the vehicle and insisted on riding with him.  
  
**11:23** "He's my brother." Hunter said, lying through his teeth. The paramedics nodded and allowed him in.  
  
Ten feet from where Hunter was entering the ambulance, Stephanie was being checked on.  
  
"How are you feeling, Mrs. Helmsley?"  
  
"Please call me Stephanie, and I feel fine." She said curtly. The medic seemed to understand. She also considered Stephanie to be one of the luckiest people alive.  
  
"Were you a friend of the woman in the car? A...Ms. Stratus?" Steph thought about this for a second.  
  
"Yes, I am. We work together." She said.  
  
"Well, I don't know how to tell you this, but she's dead.  
  
**11:27** Stephanie sat there in shock for a moment. The woman she despised most in her life...dead?  
  
"I know that this must be hard for you." The medic commented. "We recovered a cell phone from the car. Were you carrying one at the time of the incident?"  
  
"Yes," Stephanie replied, without really thinking about it. Before she could correct her mistake, the medic handed her the phone. She patted her on the back and walked away. Stephanie wandered from the crowd to look for Chris. The medic had occupied so much of her time, she almost forgot about him. He was nowhere to be found, but she noticed an ambulance leaving and figured he might be in there. She hoped that he was all right. She opened the cell phone and noticed that Trish had a message.  
  
**11:32** "How are things over there? I need an update on your position soon." Eric Bischoff's voice played through the earpiece. It finally dawned on Stephanie that Trish had been a part of Eric's twisted plan. It was now more vital than ever to let her dad know about this. It was time to get help.  
  
**11:35** Steph started to dial the number, when a gloved hand covered her mouth.  
  
"If you cay anything, or try to scream when I remove my hand, I will kill you." A man whispered in her ear. Little did Stephanie know that the man that was threatening her now, was also the same man who knocked Chris unconscious about a half hour earlier. He removed his hand and she stayed silent. He pointed a gun at her back and poked her to move forwards.  
  
**11:41** Shawn dialed Kevin Nash.  
  
"Hello?" Nash answered. Shawn pulled back onto the interstate.  
  
"Kevin, I have a very big favor to ask of you." Shawn said. Kevin sighed.  
  
"Depends on what it is."  
  
"Look, I just got a call from my house, and I think that Cameron might be in trouble. The only problem with that is, I think that Rebecca is the one doing it."  
  
"Whoa, are you sure Shawn?"  
  
"That's why I called you." Shawn said. "I need you to go over to my house and check up on things ok? Also, call the police, I can't through to it from here."  
  
"Where are you?" Kevin asked him.  
  
Shawn sighed. "I'm in Connecticut." Kevin nodded on the other end.  
  
"Vince?"  
  
"Yeah, it's a long story, but I'll explain as soon as I can, will you please just do this for me?" Shawn pleaded as he pulled into the parking garage of WWE Headquarters.  
  
"Yeah, but Shawn?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Try to take it easy, I'm sure it'll be nothing." Kevin said, trying to reassure him.  
  
"Right." Shawn said before hanging up and exiting the car.  
  
**11:46** Stephanie was on the road, following the ambulance that held Chris from a distance. That was by the request of the man sitting next to her in the passenger seat holding a gun to her. She couldn't help but think that she had seen this man before somewhere.  
  
"What do you want me to do when they pull off?" Stephanie inquired.  
  
"Follow them." He said simply. She could see his face clearly, but she still couldn't place where she had seen him before. The ambulance pulled off, and Stephanie followed it.  
  
**11:53** Vince paced his office, waiting for Shawn's update. He hadn't wanted to discuss much over the phone. When the phone suddenly did ring, Vince nearly screamed.  
  
"H-Hello?" he asked.  
  
"Hey Dad." Shane said. "Are you ok? You sound a little upset."  
  
"No, son, I'm not okay...." Vince started about to explain the whole situation, when Shawn walked into the room.  
  
"Shane, I'll call you back." He said. Shawn looked just as upset as he did.  
  
"So, what's the situation we've got on our hands?" Vince asked.  
  
"He wants payback so bad, it consumes his life. I'd say that he has been planning this day for a very long time." Vince collapsed into his chair.  
  
"Vince, I need to get back to Texas ASAP."  
  
"Why?" Vince asked, barely hearing him.  
  
"Something has gone on at my house. I don't know if Rebecca has freaked out or what the deal is, but I need to get down there." Vince sighed and was about to say something when Shawn's cell phone rang.  
  
**11:56** "Hello?"  
  
"Shawn, I don't know what the hell happened, but Rebecca has snapped. She is gone. She's nowhere around here. I called the cops and the paramedics."  
  
"What's going on today? How's Cameron? Is he-is he all right?" Shawn asked, barely getting the words out.  
  
**11:59** "Well....." Kevin said, trailing off. Shawn was already fearing the worst.  
  
"What? What happened?"  
  
**12:00** "She strangled him, Shawn. He's flat lining right now and it isn't looking like he's gonna make it."  
  
**  
  
Well, the day is half over right now. What do you think so far? Review please!!! Next chapter is coming soon!!! 


	13. 12:00 to 1:00PM

Disclaimer: Don't own these people, blah, blah, blah.  
  
A/N: OK, onto the next chapter!!  
  
**  
  
12:00-1:00PM  
  
**12:00** Stephanie pulled into the hospital's parking garage while the man next to her was holding a gun to her ribcage.  
  
"What are we going to do here?" she asked him.  
  
"We're going to pay your pal, Irvine, a visit." He said simply.  
  
"What are we going to do?" Stephanie asked, her voice getting a little louder as she turned off the car.  
  
"I'll tell you when it's time." He said. The man concealed his gun, and Stephanie kept thinking about where she had seen this man earlier.  
  
**12:03** Shawn was holding onto his cell phone so tight that his knuckles were starting to turn white. He could hear the paramedics in the background at his house, trying to revive his son. Kevin remained silent. Vince was staring at Shawn, trying to figure out what had happened. He was about to ask him when Kevin spoke over the phone again.  
  
"Shawn, I need to tell you about something that I found in the bathroom." Shawn sighed.  
  
"What was it?" he asked. Kevin stepped out of the bathroom and into the hall as the paramedics still tried to revive Cameron.  
  
"I saw a pregnancy test in the trash, man. According to the test, she's pregnant." Kevin said. Shawn couldn't even think about it. He was fearing for his only son's life.  
  
"Shawn! Cameron's OK, he's coughing and breathing on his own again!!" Kevin yelled over the phone. Shawn let out a huge sigh of relief.  
  
"Kev, can you bring him up to Connecticut, when they are finished with him there? I don't think that we should keep him in Texas." Shawn said. Kevin nodded on the other end.  
  
"Sure, I'll see what I can do, and if there are any problems, I'll call you." Kevin said, then hung up. Shawn hung up and leaned back in the chair. At the rate this day was going, he figured he'd be lucky to go through the whole day without having a heart attack. He told Vince the shortened version of what had happened, then said he needed a bit of fresh air.  
  
**12:09** Stephanie and the mystery man sat in the hospital waiting room. They were waiting to hear news about Chris. Stephanie still hadn't made up her mind if this man wanted to hurt or help Chris. She could swear that she had been with Chris when she saw this man last. True, he had technically kidnapped her, but she was beginning to believe that was just to scare her into doing what he wanted.  
  
Only time would tell.  
  
**12:13** Bischoff shoved open the double doors that led to the entrance lobby of the arena. He had just found out from one of his contacts that Trish was dead.  
  
And he, quite frankly, was pissed.  
  
Mark Calloway was the first person he saw on his way to his office.  
  
"Mark, I need you to do something for me." Bischoff told him. Taker stopped walking and glanced at him for a minute.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Well, here's the deal, you do this for me, and I automatically bestow the title to you and give you a raise." He said. Taker narrowed his eyes.  
  
"What do I have to do?"  
  
**12:17** Vince rubbed his temples. Today was shaping up to be the worst and longest day of his entire life. He'd just gotten off the phone with Shane and Linda. He told them to be on their toes because he thought that someone might be trying to hurt them. He didn't go into detail because there was too much detail to go into. Shawn was out for a walk, getting some fresh air, and after hearing what had almost happened, Vince decided to let him have some alone time.  
  
Vince prayed that Stephanie and Chris were both okay.  
  
**12:20** At that moment, Vince's office phone rang. He picked it up.  
  
"H-Hello?" he stuttered in a small voice.  
  
"Mr. McMahon?" a man on the other end asked.  
  
"Yes, this is him, to whom am I speaking to?"  
  
"I'm Greg Louis with the Northwest Regional Hospital paramedics. I have unfortunate news about some of your performers." He said. Vince closed his eyes and braced himself for the worst.  
  
"What is it?" he asked wearily.  
  
"A Ms. Trish Stratus was killed in a car wreck about an hour ago." Vince felt his stomach lurch, but he let out a sigh of relief that it wasn't Stephanie or Chris.  
  
"That's horrible." Vince said sincerely.  
  
"We also have reports that a Mr. Chris Irvine was injured and a Ms. Stephanie McMahon-your daughter I would presume- were both reportedly taken to the nearest hospital." Vince suddenly found it hard to swallow.  
  
"Were they both alive?" he managed to ask.  
  
"Yes. Ms. McMahon had no apparent injuries other than a few bumps and bruises. Mr. Irvine sustained a concussion and was unconscious the last I heard."  
  
"Which hospital are they located at?" Vince said, standing up from his chair.  
  
**12:26** "At Northwest Regional Hospital, in the city of New Milford. It's about 2 hours away from Stamford." Vince scribbled down the name on a piece of paper and stuck it in his pocket.  
  
"I'll be there in half an hour." Vince told the man, then hung up.  
  
**12:29** Taker walked out of the main office with a check in his hand. He walked down the hallway a little bit, nodding to those who said hello to him. Soon, he came up on the door he was looking for. He pulled the key out of his pocket and stepped inside the Boiler Room. All he had to do now was wait until Bischoff gave him further instructions.  
  
**12:36** Stephanie sat next to Chris' bed in the hospital and wished that she could restart the day. She wished that Chris and her had never separated after the wreck. She wished that she would've known before hand what kind of impact that would have had on him. She watched warily as Hunter and her mystery man conversed outside in the hallway. Both men would occasionally glance over at her from time to time.  
  
**12:41** Stephanie took hold of Chris' lifeless hand and squeezed it. She wished that he would wake up soon. The doctor said that he should. Should, of course, was the key word there.  
  
She took his hand in both of hers and tried to massage some warmth back into it. Hunter glared at her through the glass of the window. Stephanie began to wonder about the mystery man again. The more she thought about it, the more she thought that she had seen him in a picture somewhere.  
  
**12:53** Hunter glanced at her again. She was probably daydreaming-if he knew Steph as well as he thought he did. He rolled his eyes at her and entered the room. Things were back on track once again.  
  
**12:55** Vince marched into the hospital and right up to the receptionist's desk.  
  
"I need to know which room Chris Irvine is staying in." He said urgently. "I'm his uncle." He added. The woman nodded sympathetically and got him the number.  
  
**12:59** Chris was slowly beginning to open his eyes. His head hurt like hell. Hunter smirked and sat down. The odds were rolling his way once more. Chris blinked a few times to clear his vision while he stared at the mystery man as if he were a ghost. Chris tried to say something, but no one could hear him. Hunter and Steph leaned in closer to him to hear what he was trying to say.  
  
**1:00** "D-Dad?" he choked out in disbelief.  
  
**  
  
Review!! You know you want to!! 


	14. 1:00 to 2:00PM

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in the story...you all know this, but I remind you anyways.  
  
A/N: Sorry about updates. I had planned on updating sooner, but there has been so much crap going on around my house, there was literally no time and I wasn't really in the mood to write anyways. Finally, the site has shaped up, and allowed me to update chapters properly. So, here's for the next chapter!!  
  
**  
  
1:00-2:00PM  
  
**1:00** Hunter's eyes became saucers when the word that Chris had spoken registered in his mind.  
  
"What did you say, Irvine?" Hunter growled at him. Chris didn't respond.  
  
Stephanie's jaw dropped when she realized what he had said. She turned back to look at the man and then she remembered where she had seen him before.  
  
He was indeed Chris' dad, Ted Irvine, because Chris had a picture of both his parents on his TV. He always joked about seeing his parents "on TV."  
  
**1:03** Ted Irvine let a little smirk come across his face. Stephanie didn't know why she hadn't seen it before. They looked almost exactly alike when they smirked like that. Hunter was taking unnoticed steps back towards the door as Ted approached his son. He was almost out the door when it flung open.  
  
**1:07** Vince McMahon strode into the room, bumping into Hunter in the process. Hunter jumpe and bolted out the door. Vince took no notice of him . He simply rushed over to Stephanie and engulfed her in a hug.  
  
"Oh, God Stephanie, I never thought I'd see you again. I was so worried!!" He said, while stroking his daughter's hair. She was sobbing into his chest.  
  
"Oh, Daddy, I was s-so s-scared." She stuttered into his chest. Chris and Ted had been watching the scene, but now Chris returned his attention to his father.  
  
"I thought that you were killed in the fire..." Chris started as his father sat down in the chair that Hunter had previously occupied.  
  
"No, I was on my way to your house to talk to you. Your mother is at your aunt's house." Ted explained to him. "You're a hard man to track down sometimes." He then turned to Stephanie. "I'm sorry if I frightened you. I had to find out what was going on here. I knew that you and Chris were still good friends, and I figured that if anyone knew anything, you would be the one to know." Stephanie nodded as her father released his hug on her.  
  
**1:16** Hunter ran to his SUV in the parking lot. He hopped in and started it They would figure out most of Eric's plan, now that they were all together, and he couldn't allow that. His car phone rang as he started to search through the glove box for his contingency plan item. He picked up the phone.  
  
"What?" He growled, while still searching through the glove box.  
  
"Do you always answer your phone like that?" a female voice on the other end asked him.  
  
"What do YOU want?"  
  
"Just to tell you that.....that you're going to be a father." Hunter stopped rummaging.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"I'm pregnant." Hunter blinked. He rubbed his forehead.  
  
"Well, that great, but I gotta go." He said, then hung up without waiting for an answer. He pulled the item that he had been searching for out of the glove box, and sat it in the passenger seat. It was going to be a lot harder to concentrate now.  
  
**1:27** Rebecca hung up her cell phone and continued on the interstate in the direction of Connecticut. She couldn't believe that he had just hung up like that. She would make him come around when she got there.  
  
**1:29** Randy Orton, Dave Batista and Ric Flair all sat around the ring in the arena. They had been instructed to take Chris and Stephanie to the Boiler Room if either showed up.  
  
"I wonder when Hunter's coming back." Randy wondered out loud. Batista and Flair shrugged simultaneously.  
  
"He'll be back when his job is finished." Flair said to him.  
  
**1:32** Hunter flipped the switch on the small box next to him and a timer appeared. It began to count down from 30 seconds.  
  
"Irvine, if you live through this, God must be watching over you today." Hunter said to himself as he put the SUV in drive and began to speed towards the hospital. The SUV barreled into the lobby of the hospital.  
  
Three seconds later, it exploded.  
  
**1:36** Shawn was sitting in Vince's office again, wondering where the old man had gotten off to now. The phone began to ring. Shawn looked around the room and then walked over to answer the phone.  
  
"Hello?" He asked.  
  
"Vince?" a young man on the other end asked.  
  
"Nope, this is Shawn Hickenbottom."  
  
"Shawn, this is Shane McMahon."  
  
"Oh, hey, what's up Shane?" Shawn asked him.  
  
"Is my dad there, by any chance? I can't find him anywhere. He's not answering his cell phone or his beeper." Shane told him.  
  
**1:40** Warning bells sounded in Shawn's head. Vince always answered his phone, no matter where he was or what he was doing.  
  
"His secretary said that he went to a hospital where your sister and Chris Irvine were."  
  
"Shit.....Did the secretary give you the name of the hospital, Shawn?" Shane asked, suddenly becoming worried.  
  
"Yeah, actually, it's called Northwest Regional." Shawn told him. "Why?" Shane sighed heavily on the other end.  
  
"That was the hospital that just exploded 8 minutes ago." Shane informed him. Shawn slammed a fist on the desk.  
  
"You want me to check it out?" he asked him.  
  
"No, I need you to go over to the arena and let everyone know what happened. Tell them that NOTHING is certain yet, and that we will let them know as soon as we can."  
  
"OK, what are you going to do?"  
  
"Try and get a hold of Dad again."  
  
**1:46** Chris groaned and tried to open his eyes. He saw nothing but blackness. His head was still pounding. He slowly propped himself up on his elbows and looked around the room. He had just gotten dressed and they were going to leave when everything went black.  
  
"Stephanie?" he yelled into the darkness as he slowly sat up. He heard a muffled groan somewhere close to him. He started to grope in the darkness in the direction of the groan. His hands came across an arm. He felt his way up the arm to the chest to see if this person was alive. He placed both hands on their chest.  
  
It was Stephanie.  
  
He left his hand there for a few moments to determine whether or not she was still breathing. The slow movement of her chest indicated that she was indeed alive.  
  
Chris let out a sigh of relief and removed his hands as the emergency lights kicked on, illuminating the room somewhat.  
  
Stephanie opened her eyes and tried to speak, but found it hard to do so. The room looked like a tornado had hit it. There a huge crack in the floor, where Chris was sure if there was more weight added to it, it would collapse into the floor below him. Crhis patted Steph's hand and stood up.  
  
**1:54** Chris stepped over Stephanie to check on his father. He checked his pulse and found nothing. Tears swelled in his eyes. He bit his tongue and swallowed them. He noticed an envelope in his breast pocket. Chris picked it up and examined the front of it. It had his name on it, so he stuffed it in the back pocket of his jeans. A lone tear rolled down his face as he backed away from his father.  
  
"Vince?" he yelled into the room, trying to calm his emotions down a little bit. Stephanie was beginning to sit up.  
  
"Dad?" She croaked out. Another groan was heard from the far side of the room. Chris hopped over the crack in the floor and started searching around the hospital bed. Vince was underneath of it.  
  
**1:59** "Vince!" Chris nearly screamed when he found him. There was blood pooling out around him. The bed seemed to be holding most of him together.  
  
"C-Chris...is...is....S-Stephanie.....?" Vince stuttered.  
  
"Yeah, she's fine Vince." Vince nodded slightly.  
  
"Take..take....care...of....her....for me...will you? She....she....still.....loves you...you know that?" Chris nodded. I will, I promise." Chris took hold of Vince's hand.  
  
"Promise me...one more thing....Chris...."  
  
"Anything." Chris said.  
  
"Before this day is over....I want you....to kill.....Eric Bischoff." Vince told him. Chris felt the tears coming up on him again. He let them spill over across his face.  
  
**2:00* "I promise, Vince, I promise." Chris said as Vince McMahon took his final breath.  
  
**  
  
Please Review!!! 


	15. 2:00 to 3:00PM

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!!  
  
A/N: Not a whole lot to say other than school here starts up on the 14th of this month. Orientation is tomorrow (Tues.), and I do not want to go!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!! OK, back to the story!!  
  
**  
  
2:00-3:00PM  
  
**2:00** Chris suddenly found it hard to swallow. Tears welled up in his eyes. He released Vince's hand and stood up. His eyes met Steph's and she began to cry. Chris walked over and hugged her. His own tears spilled over.  
  
"He....he never .....should've come," Stephanie sobbed. "It's my fault, it's all my fault." She sobbed into his chest.  
  
"Shhh...it's not your fault, no one could've predicted this. Don't blame yourself." He told her. He held her there for a few minutes, the emergency lights beginning to flicker and both of their fathers dead on the floor. At that moment Vince's cell phone went off.  
  
"You might want to answer that." Chris told her softly. Stephanie sniffed and nodded. She walked over with him to search for the phone. Chris check pants pockets while Stephanie check his coat.  
  
"Got it." Chris said, then handed the still ringing phone to her. She flipped it open and answered it.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
**2:06** "Stephanie?" Shane's confused voice asked on the other end.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Are you ok? Did Dad find out what was going on?"  
  
"I'm fine Shane, shaken up, but ok."  
  
"Is Dad around, I need to talk to him."  
  
"He's....he's....dead, Shane," Stephanie said. Shane was silent for a moment.  
  
"You need to get out of that hospital. Is Chris there? Is he ok?"  
  
"Yeah, he's fine, he's right here."  
  
"Put him on." Stephanie handed the phone to Chris. Tears were still streaming down her face.  
  
"It's Shane, he wants to talk to you." Chris took the phone from her and she stood up and walked away from her father's body.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Chris? I need a favor." Shane told him.  
  
"Well, I hope that I can help you out." Chris said.  
  
"I need you to get Stephanie out of there and to the arena as soon as you can."  
  
"I'll try to do that."  
  
"Good, and another thing, when you get there, try to remain unseen. Other than Shawn Hickenbottom, I don't know who we can trust." Chris nodded.  
  
"OK," he said.  
  
"I'll be waiting for you when you arrive. Hurry." Shane said, then hung up.  
  
**2:17** Shawn walked into the arena and looked around. It had been ages since he had been here. The ring was just getting set up. It brought back old memories of his D-X days. He sighed and headed towards the locker rooms.  
  
**2:20** Chris surveyed the room. When the explosion occurred, the door and windows had been blocked off by parts of the ceiling that had fallen. They needed to get out of this room, no matter what, because this building wasn't going to hold much longer. Chris checked the window opposite the door. He shoved the stuff out of the way and blinked at the bright sunlight. When his eyes adjusted he began to look around. They were three stories up, so they couldn't jump out the window, but I looked like they might be able to climb down the gutter. Chris turned to Stephanie, who was still wearing the clothes that he'd picked out for her more than 12 hours earlier.  
  
"Stephanie, how good are you at climbing?" He asked her. She shrugged.  
  
**2:24** "I've never really climbed anything before." She told him. "Why?"  
  
Chris sighed. "Do you think that you could follow me in shimmying down the side of the wall?"  
  
"I can try." She said. Chris turned to look back out the window again. "But, do you think that you should really be doing that? I mean, with everything that's happened to you today and all..."  
  
"I'll be fine," he told her, not turning around. "Besides, its our only way out." He told her as the building groaned and tilted to the right a little more.  
  
"Let's go before it's too late." Chris told her.  
  
"But, we can't leave Dad here!!" Stephanie yelled. "He doesn't deserve to dies like this!! He should be able to have a proper burial!!" Chris turned back to her, and walked over to her. He shook her by the shoulders a little bit.  
  
"Stephanie," he said, bringing her very close to him, "Listen to me, I am really sorry about your dad, I am, but you're not the only one who is leaving behind a father. My dad is here too, and I think that it's not right to leave him here, but we can't possibly climb down the wall while hauling them down too. Now, we have to get out of here NOW if we want to live to catch the son of a bitch who set this whole goddamn day up, ok?" he said very sternly to her. Stephanie looked a little shocked by his words.  
  
"OK," she said softly to him. "Let's go." Chris lowered his head to the ground and released his hold on her.  
  
**2:33** Cameron sat next to Kevin Nash on an airplane headed to Connecticut.  
  
"Why did my mom try to kill me?" Cameron asked Kevin hoarsely. Kevin put down the magazine he was reading and looked at his companion.  
  
"I don't really know Cam, maybe she was just....." he trailed off. Cameron stared at him for a while.  
  
"Daddy would never hurt me like that, would he?" he asked him. Kevin smirked and shook his head.  
  
"No, your daddy would cut off his own hand before he hurt you like that. He loves you more than life itself, Cameron. He would move heaven and earth to keep you safe. I've seen him do it before." Kevin told him. Cameron's eyes lit up.  
  
"Really? Dad moved the earth?" Kevin smiled at the little boy's enthusiasm. He decided that Shawn would forgive him if he told a small fib about him.  
  
"He sure did Cameron, he sure did."  
  
**2:43** Chris lifted his arms to help Stephanie down from the gutter.  
  
"You ok?" he asked her, after she hopped down.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey!!! Look over there!!!" Stephanie screamed. Chris looked in the direction she was pointing in.  
  
Finally, God began to smile on Chris.  
  
The WWE Headquarters luxury plane was parked in the parking lot.  
  
"Dad flew here!!" Stephanie screamed. Chris just smiled.  
  
**2:56** Something was finally going right on this dismally long ass day.  
  
Chris and Steph took off running for the plane. They knocked on the cabin door and the pilot smiled at them; he recognized both of them. He opened the door for them.  
  
"Hello, Ms. McMahon, Mr. Irvine, Glad to see both of you again. Where's Mr. McMahon?" he asked.  
  
"He....uh...didn't make it out." Chris answered for Stephnaie.  
  
"Oh. I'm so sorry Stephanie. Tell You mother and Shane that my wife and I send our condolences."  
  
"Thank you." Stephanie said quietly.  
  
"Well, I suppose that the two of you will need a ride back to Stamford, huh?"  
  
**2:59** "You got it."  
  
"Hop on in then." The pilot said. Chris and Stephanie made their way to the back of the plane and sat down. They buckled up and Chris grabbed her hand.  
  
"You've been extremely brave today, Stephanie. You've shown a side of yourself I've never seen before." Chris told her as his muscles sighed with relief from sitting. Steph cast a sideways glance at him.  
  
"You've risked your life so many times today to save mine, I can never thank you enough for it." She said, squeezing his hand, then kissing him gently on the lips as the plane took off.  
  
**3:00**  
  
**  
  
Please review!!! 


	16. 3:00 to 4:00PM

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these people..you know the rest.  
  
A/N: School sucks, even though I haven't gone back yet. Almost to 60 reviews!!! WOO!! OK, now back to the story.  
  
**  
  
3:00-4:00PM  
  
**3:00** Stephanie broke the kiss between them.  
  
"I'm sorry....I-I don't know what came over me," She stuttered, apologizing to him.  
  
"Don't be," he whispered back to her. "I've wanted to kiss you again for a long time, Stephanie." She turned away from him.  
  
"I'm sorry about that, Chris. I'm sorry I broke your heart then, and I'm sorry for the pain I've caused you today." Chris tilted her chin towards him so that he could see her face.  
  
"You have caused me no pain what so ever today. You have been the main reason for me to keep going today. Nothing that has happened so far today has been your fault.....except for the kiss that you just gave me." Stephanie smiled, and Chris continued. "Well, look at us, we've been beat up, almost burned, involved in two car accidents, shot at, AND almost blown up, and yet we're still alive and kicking!! This day is more than half over. Let's try and make it through the last 9 or so hours, ok?" he asked her, and she smirked at him.  
  
"Fine, but let's get some food first, I'm starving!" Steph told him.  
  
"Amen to that." He answered.  
  
**3:08** "Well, if it isn't the Heartbreak Kid himself." Randy Orton sneered as he saw Shawn walking towards the locker room. Shawn turned around and forced a smile.  
  
"In the flesh." Shawn told him as Ric Flair and Batista followed Randy up to him.  
  
"So, what are you doing back, Shawn? Don't tell me that you have a book to promote as well?" Shawn shook his head.  
  
"Nah, Vince just called me up here to talk about something, so here I am." Shawn said.  
  
Ric and Randy exchanged glances.  
  
"Really?" Batista questioned him.  
  
"Why would I lie to you?" Shawn asked them.  
  
"What if I called you a liar?" Ric asked him. Shawn's temper flared at him slightly.  
  
"Then you'd be dead wrong. Speaking of other people being here, why are YOU here Flair? Aren't you just a little too old to still be wrestling?" Shawn shot back at him. Flair stepped up and got nose to nose with Shawn.  
  
"Well, you see Shawn, we're starting a new stable tonight called Evolution," Eric Bischoff said, walking up to the four men. "It contains the three men you see standing before you, and Hunter, who hasn't shown up yet." Shawn turned to face Bischoff and tried to keep his anger in check. He knew what this man had planned for Chris Irvine and Stephanie McMahon today, and he wanted to beat the shit out of him for it. He knew what Bischoff was planning and he knew what Bischoff had done.  
  
He thought that Bischoff needed to die for it.  
  
Bischoff merely smiled at him. Evolution backed up and began to watch with great interest.  
  
**3:14** "I think that I remember Vince saying that he needed to talk to you. Why he wanted to talk to a has-been like you is a mystery to me."  
  
"Probably the exact same reason that he made a screwed up bastard like you the General Manager for RAW." Shawn retorted as Shane McMahon walked up. For a second, Bischoff thought that Shawn knew what he was planning, but he shoved the thought out of his mind; it was impossible.  
  
"Whoa, guys, back up. Now, we've got other things we need to take care of before eight o'clock comes around, ok? So, lets get on with it, shall we?" Shane said, separating Shawn and Eric. Shawn glared at Bischoff for a little bit longer, then finally backed off.  
  
"Let's go," he told Shane, and they began to walk in the opposite direction of Evolution.  
  
**3:18** "Man, how can you fully enjoy a plane rid without a bag of Skittles?" Chris demanded as Stephanie stuffed another brownie in her mouth.  
  
"Mmmmm....not shure....eat a browhnie!" She said, with her mouth full. Chris smiled.  
  
"Well, I would, if you wouldn't keep eating them all!! You're gonna make yourself sick, you know that?" He told her before the plane began to shake. Stephanie swallowed.  
  
"What's going on?" Chris shook his head.  
  
"I'm not sure, but given the day that we've had already, I'm sure that it can't be good." The plane took a downward angle.  
  
"Everyone, please assume crash positions-"  
  
"Shit," Chris muttered as he made his way back to his seat. Stephanie was right in front of him.  
  
"We have to crash land about 20 miles from Stamford, I am trying to notify ground control now," the pilot said, then the intercom switched off.  
  
**3:21** "What are we gonna do?" Stephanie wailed as Chris helped her get buckled.  
  
"We're going to be fine, that's what we are going to do. We'll land, and then we can walk the rest of the way to Stamford, ok?" Chris told her, as the plane seemed to head faster towards the ground.  
  
"What about Shane? Can't he help us?" Stephanie asked him with teary eyes. She was in shock.  
  
"Listen to me, Stephanie, Shane knows that we're on our way. He knows that we'll get there." Stephanie nodded, and Chris held her face in his hands.  
  
"I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you." Chris promised. The cabin began to shake violently as the plane crashed to the ground.  
  
**3:25** Shawn followed Shane into the VIP room.  
  
"Sit down, Shawn." Shane told him. Shawn reluctantly sat down.  
  
"Now, listen to me, what I'm about to say, doesn't leave this room, you got me?"  
  
"Sure." Shawn said.  
  
"The hospital that my dad, Stephanie and Chris were at was blown up by Hunter, of all people." Shawn looked up at him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"It was a suicide attempt. He drove his SUV right through the front lobby seconds before it exploded. The explosion killed a total of 56 people. My father included." Shawn was shocked.  
  
"What about Chris and Stephanie? This whole day seems to revolve around them, are they all right?" Shane nodded.  
  
"Yes, they're on their way here now."  
  
**3:32** Chris opened his eyes slowly. He winced and tried to move out of his seat, when he realized he was still buckled in. He was also hanging at an odd angle above the ground.  
  
"Damn belt," he cursed, as the belt didn't budge. He leaned his head back against the seat.  
  
"Stephanie?" he yelled into the rubble. He heard nothing. He looked around him.  
  
Her seat was no longer there.  
  
The back part of the plane had been ripped out. Fear began to seize Chris. He wriggled around in his seat.  
  
"STEPHANIE!!!!" he bellowed. He grunted as he failed to break the belt that held him prisoner. He spied a piece of broken glass next to him. He picked it up and began to cut at the belt with it. It was probably hard enough to do sitting upright, but he had to do it tilted to the right and at an odd angle.  
  
Just when he was about to give up, the belt ripped, and he fell out of the chair.  
  
"Ugh, I hate planes." He muttered before managing to stand up. He wandered around the rubble of the plane for a few moments. He found the pilot and various members of the crew all dead. He was praying to find Stephanie soon.  
  
"Stephanie!! Where are you?" He yelled. He made his way out of the plane rubble and out into an open field, when he saw her, still buckled to her chair, face down in a ditch.  
  
"Oh, God." He muttered as his stomach sank He ran over to her and unbuckled her. He picked her up and moved her to the top of the small hill.  
  
"Oh God, please no, please don't. Don't take her away from me again." Chris said as he took her pulse. Nothing. Tears came to his eyes as he began to set her up for CPR.  
  
"1..2...Please, God, let this work...5, Breathe, " he coached himself along as he had been taught to do. He pinched her nose and breathed into her mouth and listened for a second. Still nothing. He tried again and waited another second. She began to cough.  
  
"Oh God, thank you, thank you so much. Oh God." He whispered. As he pulled her into a hug while tears streamed down his face.  
  
**3:44** Shawn leaned back against the couch. Today had undoubtedly been the longest day of his entire life. He wondered when Kevin and Cameron were going to show up. He wondered when Shane would mosey on back in, and he hoped that the rest of the day would hold no more surprises.  
  
Right as he completed that thought, Eric Bischoff and Mark Calloway walked into the room. Shawn jumped up off the sofa.  
  
"What the hell do you want?" Shawn spat at Bischoff. Mark folded his arms and stood in front of the door.  
  
"What do you know about my plan?" Bischoff asked him. Shawn narrowed his eyes.  
  
"Go to hell." Bischoff shook his head.  
  
"I'll get the truth out of you sooner or later. Mark, take him to the boiler room." Eric said as Mark walked up to Shawn.  
  
"Will you come quietly, or will I have to knock you out?" Shawn glared at him, then glared at Bischoff.  
  
"This isn't over yet." He told Bischoff. Then he turned to Mark. "Yeah, I'll come quietly."  
  
**3:53** Chris and Steph walked around the plane. He'd told her about the pilot and crew, so they weren't looking for survivors.  
  
"Why did the plane crash, though?" Stephanie asked him as he studied one side of the plane.  
  
"That's what I want to know. I don't think that anything malfunctioned or that we were shot down. It was almost like..." Chris trailed off.  
  
"Almost like what?" Stephanie asked him.  
  
"Almost like the pilot ran the plane into the ground on purpose." He finished.  
  
"What?! Why would he do that?"  
  
"He said that he hadn't reached Ground Control yet, well, what if he never called in the first place? What if he called at WWE Headquarters or at the arena and told them that we were coming, and that someone who answered ordered him to kill us or they would do something to his family?" Chris suggested.  
  
**3:59** "But that would mean......it's crazy!! No way!!! It's too farfetched!!" Stephanie insisted. Chris turned to look at her.  
  
"Is it? Is a mole inside the WWE really that farfetched? What if, before he died, your dad hired Bischoff? Or worse, what if it's someone very close to your father who could jeopardize everything?" Chris asked her. "Even our lives?"  
  
**4:00** 


	17. 4:00 to 5:00PM

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone!!  
  
A/N: Hmmm..61 reviews!!! All right! Totally kickin chicken, man....rrrrrrriiiiight. OK, on to the story!!  
  
**  
  
4:00-5:00PM  
  
**4:00** "A mole? Inside my father's company? Do you know how crazy that sounds?" Stephanie asked Chris.  
  
"Not very crazy when you look at everything that has happened to us in the past 16 hours." He told her. She looked at him.  
  
"Well, you have a point there, but the idea is still crazy." She insisted as he began to walk away from the plane. "Where are you going?" He stopped and turned around.  
  
"Well, since I doubt that the news stations are going to hear about this, and we have 20 miles to walk before 8 o'clock comes. I think that we need to get going if we want to make it there on time." Chris turned to start walking.  
  
"What happens at 8 o'clock?" Chris turned to face her again.  
  
"RAW starts. We both need to get there and warn everyone about Bischoff, in case Vince did hire him. Are you coming with me or not?"  
  
"Won't someone come and check the plane out, and then we could go back with them?" Chris let out an exasperated sigh.  
  
**4:06** "No one will come!! Don't you understand? The people who told this pilot to bring that plane down want us dead!! They're going to cover this up for as long as they can!! If we want to get to Stamford we're going to have to start walking now." Chris told her. Stephanie was a little taken back by his sudden snappy behavior, but let it slide since he hadn't slept in about 2 days and neither had she, so their tempers were bound to butt heads sooner or later. She jogged a bit to catch up to him.  
  
**4:10** "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you back there. I'm just....tired and I wish that this damn day would get over with." He said to her when she matched his pace.  
  
"I understand. No need to apologize. I wish that this day was over with too."  
  
"According to my mental calculations-"  
  
"Getting wordy with me now, huh?" Stephanie asked, poking him in the side. He smirked at her.  
  
"Shut up. According to my mental math-how's that?" He asked her.  
  
"Better." She said, messing up his hair.  
  
"Hey...all right, anyways, I figure that since we're about 20 miles away from Stamford, if we walk a mile every fifteen minutes, we should get there by about 9:00." Chris told her.  
  
"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but how do you know that we're walking in the right direction?" Stephanie asked him as they continued walking.  
  
"Well, the sun sets in the west, which is roughly that way." He said, stopping to point this out to her. "When you face west, north is to your right and south is to your left. We are wanting to go south, so I turn left, like so. And ta-da!! You're walking south!!" Steph rolled her eyes.  
  
"As long as you know where you're going." She told him.  
  
**4:16** Jason Reso called Chris' cell phone again. And, yet again, he got no answer.  
  
"Where are you Chris?" He muttered to himself, as he pulled into the parking garage of the arena. Torrie Wilson squeezed his leg.  
  
"Still no sign of him?" she asked. Jason hung up the phone.  
  
"No, I haven't been able to reach him all day. He was supposed to be at his house today, and then drive down here. I've called his house five times and they say that the line is disconnected, but that's a bunch of bull because he called me last night from his house." He said as he turned the car off. Torrie frowned.  
  
"That's very unusual for Chris to be unreachable." She commented.  
  
"I know. That's why it bugs me so much. I keep thinking that something might have happened to him." They both got out of the car and Jay popped the trunk.  
  
"Well, don't think like that, babe. I'm sure that he's fine. Maybe there was a family emergency or something?" Torrie suggested as she grabbed her suitcase out of the trunk.  
  
"Maybe you're right, but just in case, let's keep this between the two of us. I'm sure that the new GM is going to want to know why he's not here, and I don't want to say anything before I know that I can trust this guy." Jay asked her as he slammed the trunk down. Torrie nodded.  
  
"Ok, Jay, my lips are sealed." She said, kissing him on the cheek.  
  
"Let's go meet the new GM." Jay said.  
  
**4:24** "What do you know, Shawn?" Mark repeated. Shawn raised himself to his knees. Blood spilled over his face.  
  
"Go to hell." He spat, blood spilling from his mouth. Mark kicked him in the ribs.  
  
"Don't make me keep asking, Shawn." He threatened him. Shawn coughed out more blood.  
  
"Don't make me keep repeating it." Shawn said weakly. Mark grabbed him by the throat.  
  
"I will get the answers I want, no matter what, Shawn. No matter what." He said before laying more hard punches into him. Shawn took all of the punches with the image of his son in his head for strength.  
  
**4:36** "Stephanie, I need to ask you something." Chris said as they continued along, through the huge field.  
  
"Ask away." She told him. Chris took a breath.  
  
"Well, for one, why did you break with me after the wreck?" Stephanie had to advert her gaze from him. She was silent for a little bit before she finally answered his question.  
  
"I don't really know.....I guess.....I guess I was kind of pressured into it by my father and Shane. They kept saying that you were a potential risk to me, and I began to believe them after the wreck." She told him. He turned his face away from her and began to study his feet  
  
"My turn to ask you one now." She said, and Chris nodded to show that he's heard her. He was absorbing what she had told him.  
  
"What happened during the wreck? The doctors said you had witnessed the whole thing and were dealing with post traumatic stress." She paused. "What did you see?" Chris cleared his throat. He wished that she had picked an easier question.  
  
"After.....After you were thrown from the car, everything happened all of a sudden. But," he turned to meet eyes with her. "It always plays in slow motion in my mind." He lowered his gaze as they kept walking. "After you were thrown from the car, the back window busted out. I was tossed around and pinned so that I was watching the back seat. Bischoff's son, Jack, was thrown out of the window, and Eliza soon after. Marissa's eyes met mine right before the windshield shattered out from behind me. A huge piece of glass flew into her throat. Another piece flew into my back, but I barely noticed it watching her."  
  
"It was horrible," he continued. "Blood was gushing out of her throat....She fell forwards when we rolled over again, and she hit her throat on the center console near my head. It jammed the piece all the way through her throat. I could see the end of it coming out the back of her neck. Then the car struck a tree. I remember lying there, with my head busted open and my back bleeding. I remember asking God if he was punishing me for something. Because there was not one thing that I did wrong that night. Not one damn thing. I was sober and doing the speed limit. It was just....just a freak accident." He muttered the end. Stephanie fell silent.  
  
**4:48** Rebecca pulled over to the side of the road. What could this cop want? Morons. She was obeying all of the rules...ah well.  
  
"Ma'am? Is your name Rebecca Hickenbottom?" The cop asked her. Rebecca thought about this for a second and she realized that they had found Cameron.....  
  
Shit.  
  
She sighed. "Yes, my name is Rebecca Hickenbottom." The cop nodded and told her to step out of the car. She saw her beautiful plan, her beautiful life with him going down the drain.....  
  
**4:53** Shane paced around the VIP room.  
  
"Where the hell is he? I told him to stay put." He muttered to himself. Eric Bischoff walked into the room.  
  
"Eric, come in."  
  
"Already am. Where's Vince?"  
  
"He won't be here, so I'm going to explain the rules."  
  
"OK, that's fine."  
  
"By the way, have you seen Shawn since I broke up your argument earlier?" Bischoff's eyes flickered a little.  
  
"No, I haven't seen him."  
  
**4:57** "When do you think that Hunter will be back?" Batista asked Randy.  
  
"I don't know, but I hope that it's soon. I'm getting tired of sitting here." Randu said. Flair came back to join them on the couch.  
  
"He'll come when he's ready." Flair said, flipping the TV on.  
  
**4:59** A long, black limousine pulled up in front of the Stamford Connecticut arena. The driver put the car in park, and then got out to open the door for his only passenger. He walked to the end and opened the door. One heeled foot stepped out, followed by another. A thin hand appeared on the door, followed by a blonde head.  
  
The woman stepped out of the limo and onto the pavement.  
  
"Anything else, Mrs. McMahon?" the driver asked. Linda shook her head and walk up to the front door of the arena.  
  
**5:00**  
  
**  
  
Reviews???? Pwease????? 


	18. 5:00 to 6:00PM

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these people, as everyone well knows......  
  
A/N: 64 Reviews!!!!!!!!!! Thank you guys sooooooo Much!!!! School is going to start later this week, so updates might not be a regular as they are now; just a forewarning.  
  
**  
  
5:00-6:00PM  
  
**5:00** After a long period of silence between them, Chris began to chuckle a little bit.  
  
"What?" Stephanie asked him, "What's so funny?"  
  
"Oh, I was just thinking; it's not funny, it's kind of ironic actually." Chris told her.  
  
"Well, spill the story." She told him. He glanced at her, then stared straight ahead.  
  
"The day of the accident, I had been looking all over Stamford for the perfect.....well, the perfect engagement ring." He said. Stephanie's jaw dropped. "I was so tense about saying the right thing........I was so afraid of rejection...... When I was pinned in that car.....I prayed that.....that you were okay, so that when this was all over, I could build up my courage and try to ask you again." He looked down and kicked a clump of dirt at his feet, fully aware of Stephanie's eyes upon him. He had begun to lose his humor in this.  
  
"But, it never came back to that chance. I stuck the ring in my wallet by your picture. It's been there all this time......I see it every time that I open my wallet for something. It reminded me of what I had lost to him." He paused. "Would you like to see it? It was for you anyways. You deserve to see it after all of the babbling I've done." Chris said, fishing out his wallet as they stopped walking for a moment. He pulled the ring out of the groove that it had made from two years of being in his wallet, and handed it to her.  
  
**5:10** "My God, Chris, it's beautiful." Stephanie remarked. Granted, it was smaller than her wedding ring from Hunter, but the design of the diamond on Chris' ring was much more beautiful. She looked on the inside of the ring. Something was inscribed on the inside of the ring. Stephanie read it out loud as they started walking again.  
  
"'To Stephy, my one true love. C.I.'" she read. She realized how much pain that he had gone through because of her. If she had been him, she would've gone nuts, or been completely furious, but he kept all of that bottled inside of him. It made her feel horrible.  
  
"Chris, that is so sweet," Stephanie said, stopping him to plant a kiss on his lips. When they broke the kiss, she moved her wedding ring to her other hand. "I'm not married to Hunter anymore. Your ring deserves to be here." She said, putting Chris' ring on her left hand. Chris smiled softly at her. Tears were brimming in both their eyes.  
  
"I'm glad you like it." He said, as he continued to walk on. She quickly followed him and linked their hands together.  
  
**5:16** Jay and Torrie were on their way to the weight room, when they spied Linda McMahon coming down the hallway.  
  
"Hello, Mrs. McMahon." Jay and Torrie said together. Linda smiled.  
  
"Hello Jay, Torrie. Have you seen Vince around here anywhere?" She asked them.  
  
"No I haven't we just got here, but I'm pretty sure Shane is here." Jay said.  
  
"Oh, OK, is he in the VIP room?"  
  
"Yeah, I think so," Torrie answered.  
  
"Well, thank you." Linda said.  
  
"No problem." Jay said, then they continued on their separate ways.  
  
**5:19** "Tell me what you know, Shawn, and the pain will stop." Mark said. Shawn winced and rested his head on the floor.  
  
"Where is Vince McMahon?" Mark demanded.  
  
"In hell, rotting his sorry ass away." Shawn whispered.  
  
"Wrong answer." Mark said, and produced a pocketknife.  
  
**5:23** Chris and Stephanie walked along the tree line, running their hands through the tall grass.  
  
"I think that this very long day, and this long walk, have helped us out a lot." Stephanie said. Chris smiled.  
  
"Hmmmm....since you said 'us' does that mean that I might get a date out of you after this day is over?" he asked, his smile changing to a smirk. Stephanie smiled.  
  
"I'd say that's a pretty safe bet." She told him.  
  
"Well, I'll make another bet on you...." he said, stopping. They faced each other, and Chris began to lean in towards her.  
  
"What's that?" she asked leaning in towards him as well.  
  
"I bet...." He whispered, then suddenly dropped her hand and took off running, "That I'll beat you to that tree down there!!" he yelled. Stephanie took off after him.  
  
"Oh yeah?" she yelled nearing him. He turned his head to look at her.  
  
"Yeah!!" he sneered comically. They were almost to the tree, and Chris was in the lead. Stephanie gave out. Chris slowed his pace and put his hands on the tree.  
  
"Ha!" he said, completely out of breath. "Told you....that...I'd beat you...." he panted. Stephanie made her way over to him.  
  
"Well, I bet that you weren't counting on this..." Stephanie trailed off.  
  
"Wha-" Chris started to ask, but got cut off by Stephanie pulling him in for a kiss. She snaked her arms around him and he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her. He broke the kiss for a moment.  
  
"You know that doing this will put us way behind schedule..." Chris said, smiling at her, and she knew that he no longer gave a damn about getting there on time.  
  
"I don't care. Kiss me again." Stephanie told him, and he obliged. He slowly began to lower her to the ground.....  
  
**5:32** Linda walked into the VIP room. Shane was lying on the couch, muttering to himself.  
  
"Shane, where is your father?" Linda asked. Shane jumped up off of the couch.  
  
"Uh...hi Mom." Shane said, walking over to her.  
  
"Don't play with me, Shane. Where is Vince?" Shane's face became darker.  
  
"He...He was killed Mom. He was at that hospital that exploded earlier today." Linda took a deep breath.  
  
"Why was he there?"  
  
"Because Chris Irvine and Stephanie were there."  
  
"Are they okay?"  
  
"They're fine, they're on their way here now."  
  
**5:46** "Good, did you tell anyone here what has happened?" Linda asked.  
  
"No."  
  
"Good call. We don't want a panic around here and we don't need rumors. I'll take care of this."  
  
"OK, Mom." Shane said, as Bischoff walked in.  
  
"Uh, sorry to interrupt, but I think that there's something you need to see." He said. Flipping on the TV.  
  
"-plane has apparently crashed in the middle of an open field about 20 miles from Stamford, Connecticut. The plane apparently belongs to the World Wrestling Entertainment company due to the logo on the side of the plane. There has been no word as to whether or not there are any survivors..."  
  
"Shit, I bet that Chris and Stephanie were on their way back in that." Shane said. Linda struggled not to cry. Neither noticed Bischoff's huge smile at the news that Chris Irvine and Stephanie might have finally met their deaths. He wiped the smile away quickly.  
  
"I think that it is time to tell everyone, Mom. I'll be right back." Shane said, then left. No one saw the look that passed between Eric and Linda.  
  
**5:54** Chris swatted lazily at a mosquito on his chest. He smiled and sighed. Stephanie was lying right next to him, with his arm securely around her shoulders. He shook her a little bit.  
  
"Steph, baby, wake up."  
  
"But, I haven't even slept yet!!" she whined, not opening her eyes.  
  
"I know, I haven't either, but we need to get moving. It's almost 6 o'clock." Stephanie groaned and sat up. She grabbed his shirt that she had been wearing for the entire day and pulled it over her head. Chris stood up and pulled his jeans back on. He sat back down and pulled on his sneakers. Stephanie scooted over to him in her sweatpants and began to pull on her shoes as well.  
  
"You look lovely in my sweats, you know that?" Stephanie rolled her eyes. He smirked and pulled his shirt over his head.  
  
"I'll bet." She said, "I wish I had-"  
  
"Shhhhhh!!! Do you hear that?" Chris whispered suddenly. Stephanie stopped and listened. They both stood up.  
  
**5:59** "A helicopter!!!! The plane crash has landed the news!!!!!" Chris yelled. Stephanie's jaw dropped and her eyes lit up.  
  
"Oh my God, we can make it there sooner than we thought!!!!" Stephanie squealed with joy.  
  
"Over here!!!! Hey!!! OVER HERE!!!!!" Chris shouted as they both waved their hands in the air. The helicopter turned in their direction and began to descend. On the side of the helicopter was the channel 5 news logo.  
  
Things were looking bright once again.  
  
**6:00**  
  
**  
  
So...what did you think? I thought that it was only fair that Chris get some hot lovin considering the day that he's been having...Please Review!!!!! 


	19. 6:00 to 7:00PM

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, blah, blah, blah.  
  
A/N: Well, that wonderful time of year has come again. School has started around these parts. Yay.....Yeah right. School sucks in general, but it sucks more since I am only a freshman in high school, and I fully, truly believe that one of my teachers is psychotic. Oh well, more inspiration for my stories, right? OK, on to the next chapter.  
  
**  
  
6:00-7:00PM  
  
**6:00** The helicopter slowly landed, and the news crew that Shane, Eric and Linda had seen earlier hopped out and jogged over to them.  
  
"Were both of you in the plane crash that occurred about 5 miles back?" the news reporter asked.  
  
"Yes." Chris yelled, shouting over the noise of the helicopter. "We are the only survivors."  
  
"Do either of you need any medical attention?" Stephanie and Chris both shook their heads.  
  
"No, what we really need is a ride to Stamford." Stephanie said.  
  
"It's the same place we were trying to get to before our plane crashed." Chris added. The new reporter looked at the two of them then looked at her crew. All of them shrugged.  
  
"Follow me." She said. Chris locked hands with Stephanie and they followed the woman onto the helicopter. The pilot waited until everyone was safely buckled in, then he took off for Stamford.  
  
**6:04** Eric had been staring at Linda for quite a while, and now he moved over to sit by her. He put an arm around her as she was sobbing.  
  
"There, there, Linda. I'm sure that they're fine. If anyone could survive a plane crash, its those two." Eric said the last part with a trace of resentment in his voice. Linda leaned over and began to sob into his chest.  
  
"But Vince.....he's...he's dead....and now.....Stephanie..." Eric rolled his eyes, but patted her on the back to help comfort her.  
  
"It will all work out, I promise you. Everything will be fine." Eric insisted. Linda dried her eyes a little.  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm not normally like this." She said.  
  
"Don't worry about it. With all the stuff you've gone through today. You deserve a little time to cry." Eric reassured her.  
  
**6:13** Cameron and Kevin walked into the airport terminal and began to head down to the baggage claim area.  
  
"Do you think that Dad is okay?" Cameron asked Kevin as they were walking.  
  
"I think that your dad is just fine. He's probably waiting on us to show up right now."  
  
"What about Mommy?" Cameron asked. Kevin stopped walking for a second and hunched down until he was almost Cameron's height.  
  
"I don't know where your mom is, but I'm sure that the police are going to find her. She won't ever hurt you again." Kevin promised. Cameron nodded.  
  
**6:17** Jay and Torrie were running on the treadmills when Randy Orton and Batista walked into the weight room.  
  
"Can you believe that? The company plane crashed. I hope that whoever was one it, got off ok." Randy said to Batista.  
  
"Me too, but Shane said that the news reporter said they hadn't found any survivors yet." Batista said. Jay stopped the treadmill and walked over to them.  
  
"Did Shane say who was on the plane?" Jay asked. Orton and Batista looked at him.  
  
"Yeah, he said that Irvine and Steph were on the plane." Orton told him. Torrie began to walk over to them.  
  
"Where was Vince then, I thought that he was supposed to be with them?" Batista asked. Orton.  
  
"No, he was killed in the hospital explosion, remember?"  
  
"Hospital explosion?" Jay asked, more confused than ever.  
  
"Yeah, Irvine and Steph were at the hospital, so Vince went to pay them a visit. No more than 10 minutes after Vince showed up, the place gets blown to smithereens. They're still not sure who did that." Orton said.  
  
**6:23** "Shawn, TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO KNOW!!!! Why are you keeping your mouth shut??" Mark bellowed. Shawn coughed out more blood and glared up at him.  
  
"To piss you off." he muttered. Mark grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him up.  
  
"You know that Bischoff is behind most of what has happened today. What I want to know is how YOU found this out." Mark threatened. Shawn was so tired and the pain was beginning to get to him, but he refused to give in. He knew that Vince wouldn't have given in if it came to the lives of his superstars. He'd be damned if he was going to let Vince die for no reason.  
  
"Bite me." Shawn whispered. Mark slammed Shawn's head against the wall, and knocked him unconscious.  
  
"I'll get my answers soon enough." Mark muttered before leaving the room and locking Shawn in.  
  
**6:26** Chris leaned back against the seat as he saw the fields roll past. Stephanie was already asleep in his lap. Asleep was where he wanted to be, but he wouldn't let himself until this day was completely over. He ran his fingers through her hair. God knew that it had been one hell of a long day.  
  
"Not that it is any of my business, but are you two married or something?" the news reporter, Wendy, asked him. Chris smirked and turned to look at her.  
  
"Something like that, yeah." He said. Wendy smiled back at him.  
  
"It's nice to know that true couples still exist out there. It gives hope for the rest of us." She said.  
  
"Well, we aren't exactly what you would call a picture-perfect couple. We split up about two years ago, but it seems like we might get back together after today." Chris told her. "Oh, hey, do you have a cell phone that I can use? I need to call my uh-brother, Jay." Wendy nodded and handed him her cell phone.  
  
"You'll have to yell at him." She warned.  
  
"Yeah, I know." Chris said distantly while dialing the number.  
  
**6:32** Jay walked into the men's locker room right as his cell phone rang. He grabbed it and walked back out into the hall.  
  
"Hello?" he asked. He heard a very loud noise on the other end.  
  
"Jay?" Chris' voice sounded across the line.  
  
"Chris!!" Jay nearly screamed. He tried to keep his voice down. "Is that you? Where are you, man?"  
  
"Yes, you idiot, it's me. I'm in a helicopter on my way to Stamford, finally."  
  
"What the hell has happened to you today, man?" Jay asked him. Chris chuckled.  
  
"More than I can explain to you on the phone. I promise I'll fill you in as soon as I can. Until then, I have a weird request."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Don't tell anyone you talked to me. I want it to be a surprise when I get there." Chris said, fully aware of Wendy staring at him, hanging on his every word. He wasn't suspicious of her; she was a news reporter. She was supposed to be nosy. He still couldn't risk this being leaked.  
  
"Sure, why?"  
  
"Just do as I ask." Chris said.  
  
"All right, but when will you be here?"  
  
"As soon as I can be." Chris said, then hung up. He handed the phone back to Wendy.  
  
**6:44** "You know, it has finally dawned on me who you are." Wendy said. Chris gave her an uneasy look. She continued, "You're Chris Jericho from the WWE, that's why you were on that plane, wasn't it?" Chris relaxed.  
  
"Yeah, I am Chris Jericho, and this lady here, is none other than Stephanie McMahon." He told her. She beamed.  
  
"I watch RAW all the time!! I feel so stupid for not recognizing you earlier!!" Chris smiled. Would wonders never cease? A wrestling-loving news reporter. Who would've thought?  
  
**6:51** Shane returned to find an empty VIP room. He sighed.  
  
"Great, now Mom is probably running around, trying to be the boss again." He rolled his eyes. Then, he turned around and walked out the door. Had he checked in the bathroom, he would've found a very interesting sight. Very interesting indeed.  
  
**6:55** Jay stuffed his cell phone back in his bag. He was glad that Chris was okay, but he wondered why he was being so secretive. He supposed that Chris would everything when he got here. Jay sat down on the bench in the locker room. Lance Strom walked out of the showers.  
  
"Hey, Jay," He said in his usual monotone voice.  
  
"Hello Lance," Jay said back. Mark Calloway walked in at that moment, and he walked past them so fast, they barely knew it was him.  
  
**6:59** "Wonder what he's in such a hurry for." Lance muttered to Jay. Jay shrugged. He heard Mark turn the shower on, then he noticed something. As the water was rolling out of Mark's stall, there was an odd coloring to it.  
  
The water was red.  
  
**7:00** Red like the color of blood. 


	20. 7:00 to 8:00PM

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters because the last time I checked, I was NOT Vince McMahon!!!  
  
A/N: Well, lovely school.....NOT!!! Argh!!! Homework sucks, and I've been trying to update all week. Hope you like this chapter!!!!  
  
**  
  
7:00-8:00PM  
  
**7:00** Chris and Stephanie climbed out of the helicopter and followed Wendy into the building.  
  
"I would normally ask you for an interview, but I think that you both have been through enough today. Maybe we can schedule it for another day?" Wendy asked as they stepped inside the building.  
  
"Sure," Chris said as he wrapped an arm around Stephanie. Wendy nodded.  
  
"Okay, well, I'll take you down to the main floor and point you in the direction of the hospital. You MIGHT want to go get your head looked at." She said, pointing at Chris.  
  
"Thank you. Look, I'm sorry I can't do more, but if you call this number and tell the person who answers that I gave the number to you, you'll get front row seats and a backstage pass for any show that you want." Stephanie said, scribbling a number on a random piece of paper that she had found. Chris then handed it to Wendy.  
  
"Thank you, and don't forget to come back so that I can get an interview in!!!" Wendy said after pointing them in the right direction.  
  
"She liked you." Stephanie commented coldly. Chris sighed, and looked at the setting sun through the buildings.  
  
"Steph, hon, I hate to break it to you, but I am sure that there are a lot of women out there who like me." Chris said, trying to reassure her as they walked to the hospital. "Besides, I only have eyes for you." Steph smiled.  
  
"Good, let's keep it that way," she said, laughing.  
  
**7:06** Rebecca sat in an interrogation room with a cop across the table from her. After they had pulled her over, she had refused to say a word. This cop was also trying to get her to say something, but she was no longer listening to anything that these people had to say.  
  
She wondered how Hunter was doing. She thought that he had been acting a little suspicious the last time that she had talked to him. She supposed that he was in shock from hearing about him being a father. She couldn't wait until this guy shut up. She needed her phone call. She needed to get things in order for tonight. She wondered how Bischoff's plan was coming along. She'd better get what she was promised.  
  
**7:11** After seeing the blood come out from Mark's stall, Jay had turned back to rummaging in his bag. He thought that he might be beginning to understand what Chris had been talking about. True, Chris hadn't said much on the situation, but Jay thought that he at least knew the reason why Chris hadn't wanted him to tell anyone that he had talked to him. Jay had the stinking suspicion that something else was going on in the WWE that no one else knew about. Except for maybe Chris and Stephanie. Jay grabbed his stuff and walked down the hall in the direction of Torrie's room.  
  
**7:14** Eric Bischoff and Linda McMahon both left the VIP room looking slightly disheveled. Eric wiped the sweat off of his forehead.  
  
"I think I know why Vince married you now." Eric commented. Linda merely smirked.  
  
"Well, you'd better get lost. If I know my son as well as I think that I do, he wouldn't like it one bit if he found out what we were doing." Linda said. Eric nodded.  
  
"Ok, then I'll see you later, right?"  
  
"Of course." Linda said with a smirk.  
  
**7:17** Chris sighed. He had been arguing with the receptionist at the front desk for about five minutes and he could already see that he was getting nowhere.  
  
"Look, I don't need medical attention, all I need is to use a phone!!"  
  
"But sir, you should really get your head looked at." The receptionist insisted. Chris looked at Stephanie and she shrugged.  
  
"All right, how long will it take?"  
  
"Only a few minutes, the doctor will be out shortly." The receptionist promised. Chris nodded and walked over to one of the chairs in the waiting room. Stephanie was right behind him.  
  
"All I wanted to know was where the stinking phone was." Chris muttered to Stephanie.  
  
"Why didn't you want them to look at your head?" she asked. Chris looked around the room for a moment, and spotted the pay phone.  
  
"Because they'll say I need stitches and I don't want them." Chris said, then stood up again. "I'm going to go call Jay, will you be ok here by yourself?" Stephanie looked over and saw the phone.  
  
"I'll be okay until you get back, even though my head feels kind of woozy." Chris' face showed immediate concern, but he didn't push her on the issue.  
  
"All right, I'll be right back, don't go anywhere on me okay?" Chris asked her teasingly.  
  
"Scout's honor." Stephanie said, then Chris made his way over to the phone. He fished out some change while cursing at the receptionist in his mind. He dialed the number, and Jay picked up.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Jay, it's Chris again. I'm in Stamford now, in a hospital that is about a block away. They're going to take a look at my head then I should be right over."  
  
"Look Chris, I'll come over there, it'll take longer than you think anyhow." Chris sighed and ignored the screams of the people in the lobby. Apparently someone was being brought in from a car wreck or something. He plugged his other ear with his finger and continued to face away from the lobby.  
  
"Fine, but bring me some extra clothes, ok? And ask Torrie if Steph can borrow some of her clothes." Chris said, turning around to look at Stephanie, only to find about three doctors surrounding her as she was having a seizure. Chris felt shock and fear seize him as he watched them put her up on a stretcher. He was barely paying attention to Jay anymore, which was evident because he over looked what Jay said, and merely cut him off.  
  
"Chris, I almost forgot to tell you that Bischoff made an announcement-"  
  
"Gotta go." Chris said hurriedly and hung up as he ran to follow the doctors who were rushing Stephanie to the ER. A doctor caught him in the hallway and told him that he couldn't go in there. He ran to the window, and peered in. The doctor that had kept him from entering the ER was string at him quite intently.  
  
Chris stared in horror as they put Stephanie in restraints to keep her from injuring herself or anyone else as they stuck a syringe in her. She kept shaking steadily until she came to an abrupt halt. Chris looked over at what he guessed what her heart monitor and saw a flat line. He felt his whole body go numb. His knees gave out and he stumbled into a chair below the window. He buried his head in his hands.  
  
"God, please, please......don't take her away from me again, please.....God, don't do this to me again...." Chris prayed. He couldn't look in the room. He didn't think that he would like what he would see. He closed his eyes. "Why? Why her? Why not me, God??? Huh?? Why can't you do this to me??" his mind screamed. "I hate you...I fucking hate you God....You always do this....you won't let me have her back this time, will you?? Answer me you miserable-" He cut his thoughts off as a hand touched his shoulder.  
  
"We're ready to take a look at you head now, follow me." Chris bit his bottom lip and stood up. He didn't want to look at Stephanie while he walked past, but he couldn't help it. What he thought was her heart monitor was still flat lining, and they had begun to try and shock her back to life. Chris blinked back his tears and followed the doctor. He hoped that God had heard him. If Stephanie didn't make it out of this alive, he was definitely going to hate God forever. If she lived.....he would give a second chance.  
  
**7:34** Jay rummaged through his bag for a t-shirt and some jeans that he thought would fit Chris. Next to him, Torrie was going through the same process, only she was looking for something Stephanie could wear, obviously.  
  
Jay wondered if Chris had heard what the last thing he had said was. He doubted if he had. Eric Bischoff had made it quite clear that no one was to be late, or they would suffer the consequences. No one really felt like finding out, either.  
  
**7:36** Linda was walking down the hallway to the entrance to the arena. As she was walking past the boiler room, she thought that she had heard a faint knock. Knowing that the door locked from the outside, someone could easily get locked in, unless they had a key. She, of course, had a key, so she walked in.  
  
"Hello?" she called out. The door slammed behind her, and she whirled around. Her eyes first grew wide with shock, then turned to anger.  
  
"Hello." A man said, walking into the light so that Linda could see his face.  
  
**7:40** The doctor was putting the finishing touches on Chris' bandaged head as Jay and Torrie walked in.  
  
"Hey, man, how're you doing?" Jay asked. The doctor left at that point and Chris sighed heavily.  
  
"Not good." Chris admitted. He felt like breaking down and crying right that moment, but he wouldn't ever live it down after this day. He paused, "Stephanie started having a seizure when I was on the phone with you. They rushed her to the ER and she flat lined....after that I-I don't know....I stopped watching....." Chris told them. Jay gave Chris a long look. It was easy to tell that whatever Chris had gone through that day, it was starting to take its toll on him.  
  
"Well, like I started to say on the phone when you cut me off, Bischoff-" Chris cut him off again and his head snapped up.  
  
"What about Bischoff?" Chris demanded. Jay and Torrie both were getting ready to answer when Chris asked another question. "Bischoff works for the WWE now?" Jay nodded.  
  
"He's the new GM of RAW." He told Chris. Chris almost literally saw pieces of a puzzle fall into place. He felt his heart sink.  
  
"Oh this day just keeps getting better and better..." Chris muttered to himself.  
  
"Bischoff said that anyone who was late was going to pay the consequences. I don't know about you, but I don't want to see what those consequences are." Chris nodded.  
  
"I think that I've already had a taste of his consequences." Chris muttered.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Never mind."  
  
"Here, go get cleaned up," Jay said, handing him the bag of clothes, "And then we'll go check on Stephanie." Chris nodded and trudged into the bathroom.  
  
**7:46** Linda walked out of the boiler room and shook her head.  
  
"Stupid moron can't get anything right." She muttered.  
  
"What are you talking about, mom?" Shane asked, coming up to Linda.  
  
"Oh, nothing, just mumbling to myself."  
  
**7:51** Chris emerged from the bathroom with Jay's clothes on.  
  
"Ah, they fit you perfectly." Jay joked, trying to get Chris to cheer up.  
  
"Let's go find Stephanie." He said. They all walked back to the ER, which they found to be completely empty. Chris began to lose all feeling. Jay walked up to one of the passing nurses.  
  
"Excuse me, but could you tell me where the woman that was here-Stephanie McMahon, where she was taken to?" he asked. She nodded.  
  
"Yes, they moved her to room 103, they were able to revive her not long after she flat lined. She stopped seizing pretty quickly after she came back."  
  
"Thank you." Jay said quickly before taking off after Chris with Torrie. Chris burst through the door and Steph looked up at him. He bolted over to her bed as Jay and Torrie came to the door. Chris began to kiss her forehead.  
  
"Go, I thought that I'd never see you again." He managed to get out between kisses. He felt relief wash over him and he hugged her tightly to him. He felt like if he let her go, then she would float away.  
  
**7:59** Jay and Torrie knew that they were all going to be late, but it didn't matter anymore.  
  
"There's something I need to tell you that I should have told you a long time ago Chris, I can't hide it from you any longer." Chris stopped hugging her, but held both of her hands in his.  
  
"What?" he asked her. She opened her mouth to answer him, then closed it again. She couldn't tell him, not here, not now. She didn't know when she would tell him, but until then, she was going to have to hide it again. She found a suitable replacement for what she was going to say, though. She sighed.  
  
**8:00** "I love you." She said. 


	21. 8:00 to 9:00PM

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these people.  
  
A/N: Three Day weekend!!!!! Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!! Ok, there might be an update on Sunday or Monday possibly. Until then, here is the next chapter of Drop to Zero. Be sure to check out Lost in the Shadows and Next to Nothing.  
  
**  
  
8:00-9:00PM  
  
**8:00** "Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to Monday Night RAW!! I'm host Jim Ross, alongside Jerry "The King" Lawler. Tonight promises to be an interesting night, doesn't it, King?"  
  
"It will indeed. The RAW General Manager will be named tonight by Shane O'Mac himself." King said.  
  
"Speaking of McMahons, we have some very unfortunate news for all of you watching at home. Vince McMahon was killed today in the hospital explosion that occurred earlier in the day. Everyone who has ever came into contact with Vince knows that he loved this business possibly more than life itself. In honor of his memory there will be a moment of silence for him and some of the superstars will be making comments." J. R. said.  
  
"Not to mention that the company plane crashed today, and the only two on the plane besides the crew were Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon. There have been no reports as to whether or not anyone on the plane has survived or not." King said.  
  
**8:03** Kevin and Cameron walked into the arena. Both started to look for Shawn, who was of course, nowhere to be found.  
  
**8:09** Chris, Jay and Torrie were all waiting in Stephanie's hospital room while she got dressed. They were planning on smuggling Stephanie out of the building and hightail it over to the arena. Chris wanted to have her stay at the hospital, but Steph insisted on going, and well....how could he say no to that face?  
  
Chris flipped on the TV and found the channel for RAW. He heard JR and King talking about a few of the things that had happened throughout the course of the day. A moment of silence was to be observed for Vince, and if no word was received, a moment of silence was to be observed for him and Stephanie as well. Hunter was also supposed to be remembered at some point.  
  
"How thoughtful" he muttered. Chris started to study his clothes that he had in his hands. His hand brushed across the envelope that he had taken from his father's dead body. Jay and Torrie didn't notice, they were too wrapped up in watching RAW. Chris pulled the envelope out and opened it. He unfolded the note that the envelope contained.  
  
Chris began to read it, and his eyes began to fill up with tears. Being the stubborn person he is, he would not let them fall. The envelope had contained his father's will, and a small note. Chris felt his heart sink. His father had known that he was going to die. Chris read the little note to himself and didn't have time to think it over, since Stephanie walked back out of the bathroom.  
  
The note read, 'Be careful of what you get yourself into Chris. Your new manager could be out to get you in more ways than one.'  
  
"Are you sure that you're okay to leave?" he asked her again as Jay and Torrie stood up.  
  
"Positive, now we need to get moving!!" Stephanie told him. Chris nodded.  
  
"Yeah, you're right I'm looking forward to our meeting with Bischoff."  
  
"Bischoff??" Stephanie yelled.  
  
"My reaction exactly!" Chris yelled back. "Now, let's get you out of here before we get caught."  
  
Slowly, but surely, the group of four made it to the lobby, and then out the door. They then turned in the direction of the arena. They all decided that it was nice enough out to walk to it, since it was in walking distance.  
  
"I never eeeeeeeeever want to have another day like this in my life." Stephanie said, as they headed to the arena.  
  
"Are you saying that you didn't enjoy the Vitamin C?" Chris asked, feigning hurt.  
  
"Okay, enough of that shit, man, what you do on your own time is fine, but please don't mention it to me!!" Jay hollered behind him.  
  
**8:32** Shane and Linda walked out to the ring and cut a short promo about how they were going to appreciate the fans' support through this difficult time. Backstage, the two went their separate ways and attended to their own business.  
  
**8:40** Bischoff was standing in the back, getting his hair and make up ready for when they would name him as the new GM of RAW, when Chris, Stephanie, Jay and Torrie all walked in.  
  
Chris could almost feel his blood begin to boil when he saw Bischoff sitting there. This day, this whole day and all the miserable things that had happened was because of one accident that had killed his family two long years ago.  
  
"Well, if it isn't the drama queen himself." Eric said as Chris marched up to him. Stephanie was right beside him. He was going to try to restrain himself for as long as he could, but he wasn't going to guarantee anything.  
  
"Well, Eric, I'm just ecstatic to see you too. Especially since you've tried to kill me more times in one day than most people have to go through in a lifetime." Chris said, barely able to restrain his anger and rage. Torrie's and Jay's eyes widened at his comment.  
  
"All part of the payback plan, Chris." Bischoff said, getting face to face with him. "You killed MY family, so now I'm killing both of yours." Bischoff whispered to him. He turned his attention to Stephanie. He let his eyes roam over her as he made his next comment. "By the way, how is my favorite slut nowd-" Bischoff was suddenly cut off by Chris' fist on his jaw. Bisch barreled backwards and Chris lunged towards him. Cameras began to surround them.  
  
"You son of a bitch!!!" Chris screamed as he laid punches into Bischoff. Jay, Torrie and Steph, all rushed over to pull him off of Eric.  
  
"It's not worth it, Chris!! Wait to fight him in the ring!!" Jay hollered out, but it was no use, Chris had gone into a blind rage. Officials showed up to try and separate the two, to no avail. The whole RAW roster had to come out and separate them. It took seven men alone to hold Chris down.  
  
"Chris, let him go, you can fight him in the ring!!" They promised, but he was way beyond the point of listening.  
  
**8:59** "You son of a bitch!! How many good people had to die today for you to get your stupid payback, huh? How many minds did you have to corrupt? How much money and effort did you put into this day?? Because of you," Chris was screaming at Bischoff, who was turning a nice shade of red and purple. "Vince McMahon is dead. Because of you, Hunter is dead. Because of your damn payback plan, Trish Stratus and my father, my own god damn father, was killed. Well, what are you going to do now, Bischoff???? Now, the whole world knows, thanks to me!!" Chris screamed at him.  
  
"Shut up Jericho!!" Bischoff yelled. "You must really love pain because tonight, you are going to fight..." Bischoff got right up in his face again. The superstars were still holding Chris back. "You're going to be fighting me, Chris."  
  
**9:00** "That's just fine Bischoff. But I want you to remember one thing." Chris said, his tone growing deadly serious. "Tonight, I'm not Chris Jericho. I am Chris Irvine."  
  
**  
  
Sorry that it was so short!! Please Review!!!! I'm begging you!!! 


	22. 9:00 to 10:00PM

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, as usual. If I did, Do you think that I would be writing this story?? Didn't think so.  
  
A/N: Well, as promised, here is another chapter of Drop to Zero. School sucks horribly, so the next update probably won't be until next Sunday.  
  
9:00-10:00PM  
  
**9:00** The audience and the viewers were all stunned into silence after hearing Chris' rant. They wanted to believe that it was a storyline, but they were finding it difficult to do so. JR and King were both having a hard time trying to commentate after that as well. Everyone was waiting for Chris to come out.  
  
**9:02** "Stay with Jay and Torrie, I'll be fine." Chris reassured her before walking towards the ramp.  
  
"Chris!" She yelled. He turned around.  
  
"What?"  
  
Stephanie paused. "Be careful." She said. He smiled and nodded. He walked out onto the ramp to start the match.  
  
**9:06** Kevin and Cameron were walking around and asking people if they had seen Shawn when they heard Chris' entrance music hit.  
  
"He wasn't supposed to have a match tonight." Kevin thought to himself. "Something's not right here. Something has happened."  
  
Cameron stopped to look at the door to the boiler room while Kevin was thinking. Kevin kept walking and left Cameron standing there. Cameron reached up to turn the doorknob and he pushed the door open. He peered into the poorly lit room and noticed someone lying on the floor.  
  
Being the curious person that all little kids are, Cameron walked inside the room, and let the door slam behind him. He slowly made his way back to the place where the person was lying. He nudged the person over a little bit to recognize the face.  
  
It was Shawn.  
  
Shawn opened his eyes to the best of his ability to see who had so carefully moved him. He felt his heart sink when he realized that his son was here.  
  
"Daddy?" Cameron asked unsurely.  
  
"It's Daddy, Cam. I just got into a bit of a fight. Help me sit up." Shawn instructed. Cameron helped him, all while Mark watched.  
  
"Don't even think about hurting him, Mark. Your fight is with me, not him." Shawn said. Mark emerged from the shadows.  
  
"The sins of the father are passed to the son. I can't change what you have done, Shawn."  
  
**9:22** Chris stood in the center of the ring, as he had been for about 20 minutes now. He was tired from his long day and rage was still pumping through his body. He was beginning to wonder if Bischoff was going to show.  
  
The longer Chris thought about it, the more he began to think that he wasn't going to make it through this day alive. That thought only succeeded in pissing him off because after all that he had been through, he wasn't ready to give it up and lose this fight. The more he thought about Bischoff, the more he figured that Bischoff had a trick up his sleeve and was always a step ahead of him.  
  
He realized that Bischoff was probably going to live through this day.  
  
And that thought angered him to the point where he would have fought Goliath a thousand times over and win every single time. Chris walked over and grabbed a microphone.  
  
**9:31** "Bischoff, march your sorry ass down to this ring!!" He shouted. "Let's finish this!!!" He threw the microphone out of the ring and waited for Eric to come to the ring. Bischoff made his way out, without music. He was glaring at Chris. They both knew that this was only going to be the beginning of what was to come. Bischoff was still making his way down the ramp, when Chris could control his anger no longer. He dove out of the ring and met him halfway.  
  
Both men immediately started to punch each other and try to pound the other into the ground. The crowd was looking forward to this match, and was starting to act alive again.  
  
"Just wait until the show's over, Chris, I'm going to finish what I started." Bischoff growled as he straddled Chris and began to lay hard punches into him. Chris tossed him off.  
  
"You just bring your sorry ass backstage and I'll be happy to kill it for you." Chris threatened, as he grabbed Bischoff by the collar of his shirt, and threw him into the ringpost.  
  
**9:37** 'Y2J' Chants started up throughout the arena. No one liked Bischoff, so they were glad to see him getting his ass handed to him.  
  
"This whole day," Chris started as he threw Bischoff into the ring. "Was about what I did two years ago. Why?" he demanded as he punched Eric in the face. Chris would have liked nothing better than to beat the holy hell out of him at that exact moment, but he needed to know why Bischoff had done it. He needed to know how someone could be that horribly evil to another human being.  
  
So he was going to torture for answers, if he needed.  
  
Eric kicked him off. "Because you needed to know what REAL pain was like, Chris. You needed to know. And you needed to meet your destiny. You had no concept of the pain I was going through. What you have suffered through today was only a fragment of my pain!!" Bischoff yelled. Chris backed off and stared Bischoff down.  
  
"No concept of the pain you were feeling, huh? If I have absolutely no concept of the pain that you have suffered through, then why that wreck play over and over in my head, day in and day out??? Why does it haunt my dreams?? Why do I pray for forgiveness every damn day of the freaking year?? Is it for fun?? I have suffered just as much as you, Eric. I wish that I could show you that." Chris yelled. Both men locked up again.  
  
**9:42** "I'm sorry for what happened, Eric, I truly am, but this is getting ridiculous!!" Chris yelled. Eric looked at him.  
  
"Not half as sorry as you should be." Eric said before low-blowing him. Chris fell to his knees in pain.  
  
**9:44** "That's not fair, he can't do that!!!" Stephanie yelled.  
  
"It's a no-holds-barred match, Steph, I'm afraid that anything and everything goes." Jay said to her. Stephanie sat back down.  
  
**9:47** Chris fell to his knees and looked groggily up at Eric.  
  
"You will be begging me to kill you by midnight." He growled. Then, he kicked Chris in the face. Chris felt his nose begin to bleed as he fell on the canvas of the ring. Eric smiled at him. A sick, sadistic, twisted smile from a man who had put his whole life on hold for two long years to plot revenge on him.  
  
Chris felt anger seize him when Eric smiled. He had not survived through 21 hours of hell to be smiled at by this maniac bastard. Rage took control and Chris flipped up to his feet, then in one motion, he tackled Bischoff to the ground and began choking him.  
  
**9:53** "You bastard!! I hate you!!" Chris screamed. Bischoff choked out a response before a ref came down to separate them.  
  
"Your whore was mine first." He whispered. Chris saw red. His hands began to shake with fury.  
  
"I'm going to kill you Eric Bischoff. I'm going to kill you or die trying!!!" Chris screamed. He lunged at Bischoff and pinned him quickly. The match was over, but the war had only just begun.  
  
**9:57** Chris half-stumbled half-ran to the back. Stephanie was waiting for him.  
  
"You did so good!!" She exclaimed. Chris gave her a divided look.  
  
**9:59** "Answer me this, and tell me the truth." Chris said, he took a deep breath. "Did you EVER sleep with Eric Bischoff?" Stephanie looked as if she had been slapped.  
  
"How dare you even think that! What has gotten into-"  
  
"Just answer it Stephanie!!! It's a very simple question, it only requires one word. Yes or No!!!" Stephanie looked at her feet, and then back up at Chris. Her face was full of shame.  
  
**10:00** "Yes, I had to."  
  
**  
  
Please Review and Check out Lost in the Shadows and Next to Nothing!!!!!! 


	23. 10:00 to 11:00PM

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in this story.  
  
A/N: Well, as promised, here is the next chapter of Drop to Zero. Hope you love it!! BTW, in this chapter, we finally discover who betrayed Vince and everyone else!!!  
  
**  
  
10:00-11:00PM  
  
**10:00** Chris put a hand to his forehead.  
  
"Jesus Christ Stephanie!!! Were you really that desperate??" Chris yelled. Stephanie glared at him.  
  
"Well, I slept with you, I must be." She said. Chris bit his lip and rubbed his chin, he was trying very hard not to blow up and yell at her.  
  
"Let's talk about this somewhere else." He said. He began walking down the hallway and she followed him. He opened the door to the first room he came across, and they both walked in.  
  
That room, of course, was the boiler room.  
  
Neither one noticed that Shawn was lying, beat up in the corner of the room, clutching his son to his chest, nor did they notice Mark sitting in a chair on the opposite corner of the room. They were both too intent on finishing this argument. Shawn turned his tear-stained face away from his unconscious son's to look at them.  
  
**10:03** "When? When did you sleep with him?" Chris asked.  
  
"It's none of you god damn business!" Stephanie screamed at him.  
  
"Was it when we were still dating?" Chris asked. Mark now turned to see who was interrupting his concentration on what to do to Shawn next.  
  
"No, it was before that."  
  
"Oh, so you lied!!"  
  
"I did NOT!!"  
  
"As much as I'd love to hear what the fuss is all about," Mark said, emerging from the shadows. Both Stephanie and Chris whirled around at the sound of someone else's voice. They finally saw Shawn and Cameron and Mark. "I should probably first welcome you in." Mark finished. He grabbed Stephanie by the arm, and threw her into the wall over by Shawn. Then, he punched Chris in the stomach and hurled him headfirst into the back wall. Stephanie screamed. Mark glared at her, and she silenced herself.  
  
**10:07** Kevin walked around the main part of the arena again.  
  
"Cameron, where are you, buddy?" Kevin yelled out. Randy Orton, Flair and Batista all walked up to him.  
  
"Who's that you're looking for, Kevin?" Randy asked. Kevin glared at him.  
  
"No one you would know, Randy, now get out of my way."  
  
"I can't do that."  
  
"Why not, plenty more room in this hallway to take up, instead of blocking his way, Randy." Jay said, coming up to the group. Torrie was walking a little behind him. Kevin folded his arms over his chest. Randy glared at them all.  
  
"Something big is going to go down before the clock strikes midnight." Randy said. "Sounded to me like it would involve your friends." He finished, then walked off with Flair in the lead and Batista bringing up the rear.  
  
"Wonder what the hell he's talking about." Kevin asked. Torrie shrugged, but Jay had a grim look on his face.  
  
"Who were you looking for, Kevin?" Kevin lowered his head for a moment.  
  
"Shawn's son, Cameron, I lost him somewhere in here. He probably just got side tracked and wandered off."  
  
"I think what Randy was talking about is going to involve Shawn and Cameron." Jay said. "As well as Chris and Stephanie."  
  
**10:12** Chris groaned as Mark kicked him in the ribs again. His ribs, which were already busted up and bruised beyond belief. Mark's second kick caught him where the bullet had caught him earlier in the day. Chris managed to get a muffled scream out. He buried his face in the floor. Shawn winced as he watched this spectacle. Cameron was just beginning to wake up again.  
  
Stephanie turned her head and winced with every kick and every howl of pain that came from Chris. By the sixth kick, the door flew open.  
  
And in walked Eric Bischoff.  
  
**10:17** "Hello, Stephanie." Bischoff greeted her, letting his eyes roam over her body. "So wonderful to see you again." Stephanie crossed her arms over her chest. Eric turned to Shawn who was cradling his son, who was coughing horribly.  
  
"It's really sad that your son has to suffer through this too, Shawn. You should know better than to bring a child along to a wrestling event." Shawn glared at Bischoff. Chris began to cough and spit. Bischoff finally turned his attention to him.  
  
"You know Chris, You don't know how much you and Shawn are alike. You both are so resilient at first, then you simply clam up, and take the pain. Then, eventually, you will die. Not for a cause, like soldiers do, but like morons." Bischoff said, getting in Chris' face.  
  
"Leave him alone Eric." Stephanie pleaded. Bischoff turned around to face Stephanie again. Chris contemplated for a split second, letting her taste some pain, but he knew that wouldn't be right. Nor, would he be able to bear it and keep his anger in check. Bischoff took a step towards her.  
  
"Don't touch her Bischoff," Chris said, spitting blood as he talked. "I'll kill you." He threatened before getting kicked in the ribs again. Bischoff got closer and closer to Stephanie.  
  
At that point, Linda McMahon walked back into the boiler room.  
  
**10:20** "Eric." Linda said shortly. She had a look on her face that was unreadable to all of the occupants in the room. Eric turned to face her.  
  
"Yes, Linda?" He asked.  
  
"What are you doing in here? You weren't supposed to come in here for another hour." Linda said, shocking the four tortured people in the room.  
  
"Vince was set up." Chris' voice came from the ground. "He was set up by his own wife. His own fucking wife." Mark kicked him again. Linda turned to Chris, ignoring the shocked look on her daughter's face.  
  
"His wife indeed, Chris, but you of all people, should know how deceiving McMahon's can be." She sneered. Chris looked at Linda, then at Stephanie. Stephanie was still staring at her mother in shock. Linda turned to Stephanie.  
  
"Are you expecting some sort of apology, Stephanie? Because if you are, then you're going to be expecting something that's not going to happen." Linda walked up to her daughter and helped her to stand up. Stephanie yanked her arm away. Linda slapped Stephanie across the face. Steph fell to the floor and Chris felt the urge to slap her.  
  
Eric walked up behind Linda and wrapped his arms around her.  
  
"Maybe you should leave, babe. Things could get gruesome here pretty soon." Linda simply shook her head. Bischoff grew impatient. This was HIS idea, HIS show, and HIS revenge. There was no way he was going to let this stupid bitch screw that up for him.  
  
"Leave Linda." He told her calmly. Linda again shook her head. Bischoff brought her close to the door and then simply tossed her outside, locking the door from this side, with the lock that he had installed for this purpose. Most of the time, people would be locked in, but with this lock, to which he, and only he had the key, people could be locked out.  
  
"Bitch." He muttered as Linda began to bang on the door.  
  
Bischoff once again started towards Stephanie. He got within inches of her face, then he began to speak.  
  
"Do you think that I will show you mercy, Stephanie? Do you think I'd show mercy to you, simply because I screwed you once? Look at you mother for instance. I've slept with her, and before this night is over, I will kill her, as well as you." Stephanie slapped the taste out of his mouth. She then tried to bolt towards the door, but he caught her by the arm.  
  
"I don't think so Stephanie." He growled. He pinned her to the wall.  
  
"You leave her alone, Bischoff." Chris growled. Bischoff smiled, and turned to Mark.  
  
"Bring him here." Bischoff instructed. Mark pulled Chris off of the floor, and pinned his arms behind him. Then he marched him towards Bischoff.  
  
**10:31** "Do you want to know what we did that night, Chris?" Chris shook with anger. Stephanie was trying desperately to get away from Bischoff. Shawn was getting ready to strike.  
  
"Leave her alone, Bischoff, It's not her you want pay back on, it's me." Chris said.  
  
"Very touching Chris. But, I think that I was, hands down, the better, more experienced lover to our little slut here."  
  
"Really." Chris said, trying to act interested, while he thought about what he was going to do next.  
  
"Oh sure. Because the question with us would be what DIDN'T we do, right Stephy?" Stephanie was crying by this point and Chris felt his blood boil. His heart was divided however. She HAD betrayed him. What was going to stop her from doing so again? He kept his face stone, even through what Bischoff did next.  
  
Bischoff had a very short fuse, so Stephanie's cry naturally aggravated him. All the while, Linda's banging on the door had stopped as well.  
  
"Shut up, you stupid bitch!!" Eric yelled, slapping Stephanie. Chris clenched his teeth together. He would give his right arm to punch Bischoff at that moment. Before anyone knew what was going on, Shawn jumped on Mark, freeing Chris. Chris slammed his fist into Bischoff's face. Stephanie fell to the ground, as did Shawn. Mark came up behind Chris, and brought him off of Bischoff. He tossed Chris into the wall again, dislocating his left shoulder. Chris screamed in pain. He closed his eyes. When he reopened them, Shawn was crawling over towards Cameron, and Stephanie was next to him. Eric and Mark were arguing about something.  
  
**10:37** "I'm so sorry," she whispered with tears rolling down her face. Chris winced both at the sight of her crying and the enormous amount of pain that shot through his body when he shifted his weight a little.  
  
"It's fine." He said curtly to her. His heart wasn't ready to trust again lickety-split. Stephanie fell silent next to him as Bischoff and Mark walked back over.  
  
"Ready for some more fun?" Bischoff asked, grabbing Stephanie by the arm and yanking her to her feet. "Let's finish this argument, shall we?" Chris glared at him.  
  
"Sure." He said.  
  
"Well, since you're making a big deal about Steph sleeping with me and not letting you know about it, who all have you slept with, Chris?" Bischoff said, pulling out a gun and pointing it to Chris' head. "And don't lie to me."  
  
Chris stared down the barrel of the gun. At this point he really couldn't have cared less if he got shot.  
  
**10:45** "We need to find them, do you know where they are?" Jay asked the production guy. He shook his head.  
  
"I haven't seen Chris or Stephanie since Bischoff and Chris' match." The guy said. Jay nodded.  
  
"All right, thanks anyhow." Jay walked back over to Kevin and Torrie.  
  
"They seem to have just disappeared off the face of the planet." Jay said. Torrie nodded.  
  
"We can't give up on them, though. From what you tell me, wherever they are, Bischoff is sure to follow." Kevin said.  
  
**10:51** "You want to know who all I've slept with Bischoff? Fine. Stephanie. Only her."  
  
"How many times?" Bischoff asked, moving the gun from him to Stephanie's head. Chris remained as calm as he could, but this whole situation was starting to piss him off.  
  
"Once, today. Around 5:30 or so." Chris said. Bischoff began to laugh.  
  
"You're pathetic, you have hundreds of women who would throw themselves at you every day and you only sleep with her?" Chris sighed.  
  
"Look, do you have a problem with the way I live my life? The last time I checked, I control my life." Chris said to him. Bischoff smiled at him and once again aimed the gun at him. Shawn and Cameron were forced to just sit and watch since Mark was hovering by them.  
  
"Check again." Bischoff told him. Chris didn't even seem fazed at the idea of dying anymore. Stephanie was going hysterical. "You know what, I think it's time we let our friend back in." Bischoff said to Mark. "By the way, Chris, did you ever find your so-called "mole" in the company?"  
  
**10:59** "Sure I did, it was Linda all along, we all knew that." Chris said. Bischoff nodded at him.  
  
"Very good, Chris, very good. Wanted to make sure that you were still paying attention. Mark unlocked the door, and Linda's headless body fell into the room. Mark jumped back.  
  
"Holy shit!" Bischoff turned to see what was going on, and smiled.  
  
"Right on time." He said. A shadowy figure appeared in the doorway. They walked in and then closed the door. Chris, Shawn, and Stephanie were all trying to see who it was. The person kept walking until his face was revealed, as well as the head he held in his right hand. Chris was frozen with shock.  
  
**11:00** "Shane?"  
  
**  
  
PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!! 


	24. 11:00PM to 12:00AM

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these people.  
  
A/N: Well, this is it, the final chapter. The final hour in the horrible day that I have made Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon suffer through. I want to thank all of my reviewers for obviously reviewing, and taking the time to actually read the story. I thank you with my heart and soul. It's been awesome writing this, and I have had a blast. Thanks for all of your support, and I hope that you enjoy the last chapter of Drop to Zero.  
  
A/N2: For those who haven't heard yet, or even those who have, Chris Jericho's gonna be a daddy!! He said it last night on the Orlando Jones show. He also said that it's a boy, and he is going to name it after "one of the greatest cinematic heroes of all time." He is naming the kid Ash after Bruce Campbell's character in the Evil Dead movies. (God help us all.....) I think that he'll be a good father......Ok, so I HOPE that he'll be a good father. Anyhow, here it is: the final hour of Drop to Zero.  
  
**  
  
11:00PM-12:00AM  
  
**11:00** "Shane indeed, Chris. You should act so shocked because, as you can see, that is the last reaction my mother ever had." Shane said calmly.  
  
"Why?!? Why did you kill her??? How could you side with Eric?" Stephanie wailed at him. Shane walked up to her and placed a hand on her cheek.  
  
"Because I was sick of you." He said simply. Tears rolled down her face. Shane then turned to face Chris.  
  
"Logically, I knew, if I killed her, then you would be coming after me-" Shane said.  
  
"Oh spare me the rich kid bullshit, all right?" Chris said, cutting him off.  
  
"Fine, I will." Shane said, grabbing Chris by the shirt and pulling him up. "Oh geez, it looks like your shoulder's been separated, would you like me to fix that for you?" Shane mocked before slamming Chris' arm into the wall. Chris wailed in pain as the arm went back into socket. Bischoff looked away from Stephanie, who he had once again pinned against the wall, and smiled as he saw that Chris was suffering.  
  
**11:04** "Aw, Chris, you sound like you might be in a little bit of pain there-"  
  
"Stop it!!!" Stephanie screamed. "You just leave him alone Shane, or I'll...I'll-"  
  
"You'll what? Blow my eardrums out? Scratch out my eyes? No, with Eric holding you quite securely, I don't think that you'll be going anywhere soon." Shane sneered at her.  
  
"What's happened to you? You're not the same Shane that I knew as a kid. You're not even the same Shane that I knew yesterday." Stephanie said softly. Chris was slumped on the floor, and was trying to bury his head in the wall.  
  
"You're right!!! I'm not!! What you see before you is what you get, little sis." Shane snapped at her. Stephanie closed her eyes and shook her head.  
  
"Well, what I see looks like shit." Shawn said from the other side of the room. Shane turned around slowly. He tossed his mother's head over in the far corner, away from everyone else.  
  
**11:12** "What did you just say?" Shane asked. Chris forced himself up and got nose to nose with Shane.  
  
"You heard him. He said that you look like shit." Chris told him. Shane glared at him. Shawn scooted up close to Shane and kicked him in the back of the knees. Shane's gun, which he had kept hidden, went sprawling across the room. Bischoff became distracted for a second, but kept his hold on Stephanie. Chris and Mark both made a dive for the gun. Mark was just a little bit faster.  
  
"Don't move." He warned Chris, pointing the gun at his head. Shane wrestled Shawn back to the ground. He was in control yet again.  
  
**11:16** Jay, Torrie, and Kevin were wandering around the building, opening every single door, and looking for Stephanie, Chris, Shawn and Cameron.  
  
"You know what, now that I think about it, we haven't been able to find Shane, Linda or Bischoff at all since we've been walking around here. Don't you think that they would still be here??" Jay asked. Torrie shrugged. Kevin closed the door to the room they had just finished looking in.  
  
"I thought so, but maybe they all went to call their other relatives since Vince got killed earlier today." Kevin said.  
  
"I never thought about that, you're probably right." Jay said, then walked a little farther down the hallway to check out some other rooms.  
  
**11:23** Chris stared down the barrel of the gun. He thought that he would never have his life threatened with a gun in his entire life, and in this day alone, he had already been threatened with a gun three times. As a matter of fact, today had held a lot of firsts for him. The majority of them were bad, but there were a few good ones in there.  
  
Shane began to talk again, but Chris' mind wandered. He thought about how this whole day had been based around the fact that a car accident had killed Bischoff's family and not him and Stephanie. The thought was nowhere near being funny. In fact, it made him sick that someone would postpone their entire life for two years, plotting revenge on another person. Not just simply plotting revenge, either. Plotting out their deaths. Actually going through the system and picking people to carry out their horrible wishes. To have actually wasted that much time on trying to kill someone.....You really have to have a demented mind.  
  
"Chris!" Shane yelled at him. Chris whirled around to face him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Daydreaming, were you?" Shane asked. Chris noticed that Shawn was bleeding pretty badly by his ear now. He also noticed that Shane was holding his gun once again. He really HAD zoned out.  
  
"I guess you could call it that." Chris said, trying to restrain himself from punching out Shane's lights right that moment.  
  
"Dreaming about Stephanie?" Shane asked. Chris glanced over at her. Bischoff had cut her doing something since her cheek was now bleeding.  
  
"Sure." He said, returning his focus on Shane. Shane nodded and, in one swift, quick moment, aimed the gun at Chris' shoulder and fired. Chris flew backwards in surprise, clutching his shoulder. A twisted, tangled howl came out from his lips. Stephanie screamed as Chris barreled back against the back wall. He let himself slide to the floor. Bischoff slapped Stephanie to shut her up and she fell to the floor.  
  
"Get over there by him!" Shane yelled. Mark stepped back by Shawn as Bischoff and Shane advanced towards Chris and Stephanie. Chris opened his eyes a little just to know that they were coming towards him. He needed to think of a way to get out of here, and fast.  
  
**11:27** Jay tried the knob on the last door they had left to check.  
  
The Boiler Room door.  
  
It was the only locked door in the entire building.  
  
"Guys, I think we found them." Jay said. Torrie leaned up against the door to see if she could hear anything inside there.  
  
"I think that I hear people talking, I'm not really sure." Torrie said.  
  
"Both of you get back. I'm going to break this door down, if it's the last thing I do." Kevin said.  
  
**11:28** Ready to die, Chris?" Bischoff asked him. Chris glared at him with what little energy he had left. He was so sore, so tired. He wanted to sleep and he was hungry. He figured that he would never get to eat another meal in his life, since his life was more likely than not, going to end within the next minute or so. Bischoff shoved the gun into Chris' temple and was getting ready to pull the trigger, when a huge thump sounded through the door. Bischoff, Shane and Mark all turned their attention to the door for a split second.  
  
It was all the time that Chris needed.  
  
He quickly shot his legs out at Bischoff's knees and then tackled Bischoff to the ground. The gun went sprawling across the room, towards Mark and Shawn. Shane was coming back to planet Earth, just as Shawn grabbed Bischoff's gun. Shawn aimed at Mark, and Shane aimed at Cameron.  
  
"You kill him, I kill your son, Shawn. Is that really worth it??" Shawn swallowed a few times. Chris sat, straddled on top of Bischoff, with his right fist raised in the air, ready to punch at any given moment. Chris' eyes met with Shawn's. Stephanie was sobbing in the corner of the room, still not believing what her brother had told her. Shawn was silently questioning Chris if he could get to Cameron fast enough to save his life. Chris glanced at Cameron, then looked back at Shawn. Chris gave him a slight nod.  
  
Shawn started to squeeze the trigger, as Chris jumped over and tackled Cameron to the ground. When Chris hit the ground, two shots rang out through the room. Chris looked to his right and saw Mark hit the ground with a bullet hole through his head. Chris got off of Cameron and looked to his left. His heart skipped a beat.  
  
Shane was holding Stephanie, who was bleeding horribly from her arm. Bischoff was starting to stand up again. Chris moved over towards Shawn, with Cameron right by him. They both stood up and faced Bischoff and Shane.  
  
"You see what happens when you do stupid things, Chris?" Shane said. He brought Stephanie's arm up roughly, so that Chris could see where the bullet had passed through. Chris winced. His pain had faded to anger, and that sight only helped to intensify it.  
  
**11:34** "Hurry up, Kevin!! We need to get in there!!" Jay yelled as Kevin rammed his body against the door again.  
  
"It won't budge!!" Kevin yelled back at him. Jay walked back with him.  
  
"Then let me try to help you." He said.  
  
**11:37** Shane looked at Chris and Shawn and laughed. He shoved Stephanie over to them. Chris caught her as she stumbled and fell. He held her up.  
  
"You know, Stephanie, I always hated you," Shane said, aiming his gun at them, "You were always soooo special. You were 'daddy's little girl' or mom and dad's 'little princess'. What did I ever get huh? Nothing!!! It was ALWAYS about you!!" Shane screamed.  
  
"Shane, I never meant to hurt you....I love you Shane, why are you doing this?" Stephanie said weakly, pleading with him. Shane nodded sarcastically.  
  
"Oh, sure you didn't. Right, I believe that load of crap about as much as I believe the fact that you're going to get out of this room alive. This room's a graveyard....And I'm the gravekeeper."  
  
"As fascinating as I find that, why don't you spare me the torture of listening to you? I mean looking at you is bad enough, but you just keep droning on and on and on. You never shut up!!" Chris yelled at him.  
  
"We, sadly, have something in common then," Shane told him. "But not much longer, because I'm about to shut you up permanently." He took aim.  
  
"Wait, wait, what do you think that you're doing?" Bischoff asked, butting in. Shane looked at him.  
  
"This is my show now, Bischoff. Back off." Shane said, and then he turned back to Chris and Stephanie. Bischoff began to get pissed.  
  
"No way, this is MY plan damn you. You will not ruin this for me. Those people are about to break that door down, I WILL have my revenge before then Shane. If there's anyone who is going to be killing Chris, it WILL be ME!!!!" Bischoff yelled. Shane turned around and faced Bischoff again. He was silent for a second, then he spoke.  
  
"You're right, I'm sorry Eric." Shane said. Eric smiled and started to shake his hand. Shane aimed his gun at Bischoff's head as he finished his sentence.  
  
"I'm sorry that I didn't kill you earlier, you son of a bitch." He said, shooting Bischoff in the head. Stephanie screamed. Shawn raised his gun to kill Shane. He fired, once, twice, three times.  
  
Click, click, click.  
  
The gun was empty.  
  
"Shit." Shawn whispered. Shane aimed quickly and shot Shawn in the chest. Stephanie screamed again and began to shake. Chris saw everything in slow motion. He saw Shawn falling to his knees, and his hand, losing grip on the gun. He watched as He fell back and remained motionless. Chris felt his anger reach unbearable heights.  
  
**11:41** "Damn this door!! It won't budge!!" Jay yelled. He leaned back against it, as did Kevin, so that he could catch his breath a little bit. Both men were tired and ready for the day to be over with. They were ready for this door to just give out and they would know if their friends were all right or not.  
  
Jay was debating on trying to find someone else who might miraculously still be there to help them break the door down, when his questions were answered.  
  
Chris Benoit was walking over to them.  
  
**11:47** "So, who wants to die first?" Shane asked. Chris and Stephanie were both sitting on the floor again. Chris had his arms wrapped around Stephanie to the best of his ability. He looked up at Shane and glared at him. Then, slowly, he untangled himself from Stephanie and stood up.  
  
"No, no, no, I will not let you die here!! I can't lose you too!!" Stephanie screamed.  
  
"Shut up Stephanie!!" Shane yelled. "Jesus, you're giving me a headache!!" He looked at Chris with all seriousness. "You first it is, then." He said, aiming the gun.  
  
**11:53** Chris lunged at Shane as he was firing the gun. The gun fired up at the ceiling. Chris straddled Shane and began to choke him.  
  
"Die, you stupid son of a bitch!!!" Chris said, choking Shane. "Stephanie, grab the key to the door off of Bischoff!! Get out of here!!" He yelled. Stephanie crawled over to Bischoff and began to check his pockets. Shane brought his knee up against Chris. Chris rolled off of him and squirmed in pain. The gun was on the other side of the room, and Shane was already on his way over there. Chris brought himself up, and leapt the distance between them. He tackled Shane when he was only inches away from the gun. Stephanie finally found the key.  
  
"Got it!" Stephanie yelled. Shane rolled over on Chris and began to choke him.  
  
"Get.....out....." Chris choked out. Stephanie stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. She wanted to help Chris, she really did.  
  
"GO!!!!!!!" Chris yelled. Stephanie ran to the door and began to fumble with the keys.  
  
**11:58** "I'll check the door one more time, and if it's still not unlocked then we ram it, okay?" Jay asked. Kevin and Benoit nodded.  
  
*  
  
Chris wrestled himself out from under Shane, and reached for the gun. He grabbed a hold of it and jumped up.  
  
"Bastards never win Shane, don't you know that?" Chris asked. Stephanie had unlocked the door and was turning around to see what was happening.  
  
Shane glared at Chris. Chris aimed the gun at him.  
  
"I'll be seeing you in hell, Shane." He said, before firing a bullet into his chest. He stood there and let the gun fall to the floor. Then, he fell to his knees. Cameron sat in a corner shaking. Shawn was moving his arm, to try and motion his son over. Chris sat back on his heels next to Shane. He was so tired. The day was finally over. Finally over.  
  
Yet, in one final act of desperation, Shane threw his arm at Chris' back.  
  
With his hand lodged around the hilt of a knife.  
  
Chris let out a terrible cry as the knife struck him in the back. He arched his back as Stephanie ran over to him. Jay opened the door and rushed in followed closely by Kevin, Benoit and Torrie.  
  
"Christ." He muttered, seeing the carnage that was spread across the room.  
  
**11:59** "Chris!" Stephanie screamed. She pulled the knife out of his back. He fell back against her, and she started to rock him back and forth.  
  
"Oh God, Chris!!!" She screamed. "No, Chris please, don't die, don't die. God, I'm so sorry. So, so sorry!!! I love you Chris!!!! Please." Stephanie pleaded with him as tears rolled down her face.  
  
"I...don't...ha-hate you....Stephanie....I-m s-so-sorry for getting....getting angry at you.....forgive me.....I ....love...you." Chris managed to choke out before blood clogged his words.  
  
"God, don't take him from me please, please." Stephanie prayed as the clock struck midnight. "Don't take him, he's all I have left."  
  
**12:00**  
  
**  
  
//Drop to Zero, Drop,  
  
(It's happening again)  
  
I feel boxed in,  
  
(It's happening again)  
  
I'm trapped inside,  
  
(It's happening again)  
  
Feels like the world's closing in,  
  
(It's happening again)  
  
And there's nowhere to hide,  
  
This time nothing feels right to me,  
  
I'm sinking deeper within,  
  
I'll wait for you to loose sight of me,  
  
Before I suffer again,  
  
(It's happening again)  
  
I feel strapped down,  
  
(It's happening again)  
  
While you feed the disease,  
  
(It's happening again)  
  
I'm lying face on the ground,  
  
(It's happening again)  
  
For the whole world to see,  
  
This time nothing feels right to me,  
  
I'm sinking deeper within,  
  
I'll wait for you to loose sight of me,  
  
Before I suffer again,  
  
Drop, Drop, Drop to Zero. Drop, Drop,  
  
Now I'm so far away,  
  
This time nothing feels right to me,  
  
I'm sinking deeper within,  
  
I'll wait for you to loose sight of me,  
  
Before I suffer again,  
  
Now I'm so far away,  
  
Now I'm so far away,  
  
Now I'm so far away//  
  
**  
  
Song is Drop to Zero by Trust Company.  
  
To be continued..............?????????????????? 


End file.
